Osculation
by Aros-Cyansong
Summary: Sora's failing his English class. His best friend offers to help him but her tag along causes more than just failing grades. RS AR. M for later chapters.
1. Doing simple things at simple times

**AN:** So this is our first Co-fic see? There's plenty more where this came from . We love reviews. Srsly, even if it's like. 'Boo you spelt this wrong' or 'hey this says 'hubert'.' We appreciate that 'cause we usually write late at night.

Rockkie: Yeah and your drunk.

And I'm drunk right. We're like a galactic band. So right on with it then!

We SO don't own Kingdom hearts or any of the characters in this story. Ms. Rogers is based off Rockie's actual teacher...

**This is a yaoi story, don't like it? Don't read it. Flames will be dutifully ignored.**

Walking into the classroom Sora plopped down dejectedly in his usual seat beside Namine. He was not looking forward to English class. Ms. Rogers had been nice enough to spring a pop quiz on them yesterday, which would mean they would get their marks back today. As if reading his mind Namine piped up. "I'm sure you won't do as bad this time Sora, besides you said you studied right?"

"Yeah I did." Sora replied half-heartedly. _If by 'studying' you mean munching out and watching movies. _

"Then you have nothing to worry about right?" she asked hopefully, giving Sora her sweetest smile. Sora simply stared at her in return, slowly raising an eyebrow. Namine sighed and went back to her sketch, muttering something about it being his own fault. Sora put his head down on his desk with a gentle thud and waited for their teacher to arrive.

Ms. Rogers was a nice enough lady, she just had it in her mind that every child could be molded with whatever the teachers guide said. There was no excuse for failure in her book. If it were up to her, every kid would be involved with everything and be taught until they did it perfectly. _Thank god that's not the case_, Sora thought, _she might have me playing sports, or writing poetry! _Sora made a face to himself cringing at the thought of writing anymore that he had to. '_Everyone has the potential to do everything just as well as everyone else'_ he recited in his head. It was one of her more favorable quotes. Ms. Rogers just didn't understand that Sora was _not_ good at English, and probably never would be, _ever!_ He was trying his hardest, really he was. All right take that back, he was _trying _to try. He had promised her a passing mark this time though; if he failed anymore tests he may have to take summer school. Sora scrunched up his face even more than it already was at the thought of that. _School during the summer! There has to be some child labor laws somewhere against that…_

"Geeze Sora! If you don't like the taste don't lick the desk ya?" Sora shot up at the mention of his name and came face to face with Wakka.

"Oh shut it Wakka," was his un-witty remark as the older redheaded boy took the seat in front of him. They had been good friends since entering high school, and where Wakka was, a certain blonde boy was sure to follow. True to his nature, Tidus entered the classroom a grin on his face. "What's this I hear about our little Sora licking now?"

"I wasn't licking anything!" Sora denied.

"Except the desk", quipped Namine, trying her best to hide an entertained grin.

"The wooden desk", followed Wakka easily.



Sora groaned, he knew what was coming next. "Well, hell Sora, if you wanted to eat wood I'm sure I could find you a suitable substitute. Hey Zex!" A small dark haired boy lifted his head from the book he was reading. "Sora here needs some wood to li–"

"That'll be quite enough of that!" spoke an authoritative voice. _Thank god she's here…Huh, never thought I'd be saying that. _Sora shot Tidus a look that said ' if you make anymore gay jokes about me, it'll result in the removal of some very vital body parts'. He merely smirked and took a seat beside Wakka.

"If you remember we had a quiz early yesterday," she said as the pulled the white sheet up that was covering half the blackboard. "These are the answers, I'll be handing back your pages and you'll copy down the answers of the ones you got wrong. Study them well, because there will be a big test at the end of the month." Sora waited as his teacher handed out the papers, when his arrived she paused to give him a disappointed look, sucking in her lips and widening her brown eyes. The brunet grimaced indefinitely, his results obviously didn't improve. In fact, they probably got even worse since he didn't study. Shaking her head slightly she handed it back and move on.

After checking his answers with the ones on the board, he made it his mission to shrink into his chair and turn a colour similar to that of a beet. His paper was almost filled with the ink from the red pen that she corrected with. The others chattered and showed their marks, brilliant smiles and squeals of glee making him want to disappear. He grumbled and shoved the paper depressingly into his sticker-covered binder, hiding it behind all his other terrible grades and a few stray notes from Namine. He didn't know why he was so embarrassed, the same thing happened every single time there was a pop quiz. He'd get a bad mark, hide in his desk for the rest of the class while the other's boasted and gloated, convince himself that he'd never need this stuff anyway and finally have Namine knock some sense into him. Everyone knew English wasn't Sora's best subject, so why did it always make him uncomfortable when they received their marks? Sora didn't pay attention to the rest of the class, he just grumbled and stared out the window.

"Thirty-four percent!?" he exclaimed at the end of the day to Namine, who was only half pretending to be appalled by the mark. If anything, she was expecting it. "How was I supposed to know a haiku had a certain rhythm, or that 'appalled' _wasn't_ spelt with a 'u'!"

"Sora it was all outlined in the rubric she gave us last week."

"You mean that dumb-ass little paper with the squares and the numbers on it? You mean the paper with all the points and the totals? Who could possible interpret that thing! It's a puzzle on its own! I can't follow that!" Sora was steadily picking up speed in his rant, he was walking faster now spouting the odd swear word followed by phrases about 'elitists' and 'what is a sonnet anyway?' and something about 'mind control'. Several times Namine had to turn Sora gently in the direction of home because he was too caught up in his own speech to realize they had been heading towards the wrong house. Namine was about to cut him off when he stopped abruptly.

Looking up at her, his eyes began to well up, "I can't do this Nam." He said quietly to her, hoping that maybe she didn't hear him. He hated to admit it he really did, especially to Namine who always seemed to be the one to pick up the messes he left behind. "I just- can't. I try to try, but I stop myself somehow. I'm no good with words, I'm just not good …" Sora trailed off not expecting an answer from her just her comfort, her helping hand her shoulder to lean on. But when it didn't come he looked up to see a very angry Namine. "…Nam?" he asked cautiously. "You okay."

"Sora that's it!" she burst, "No more self pity, no more sob stories. I've had enough." Sora blinked away whatever tears were threatening to spill over, a look of surprise now on his face._ Woah when did she get this attitude?_ "I'm not going to let you cry your way out if this one Sora, I've let you do that too much already. This time we're going to work for it, we're going to put _you_ to work! You're going to actually _study _for once." Sora huffed at this, but was quickly cut off by a shrill shriek. "No huffing! I know you don't do _anything_ at home. So I'm going to make you do it! Even if I have to starve you and cut you off from your mom's cookies! You are going to pass that test!" The silence that followed 

afterwards was tense. _She's serious about this._ Sora thought to himself seeing the determined look that was now on his friends face. _Well if she's offering I guess I can go with it but…_

"Even the peanut butter ones?" Sora asked. Namine pressed a finger to her pursed lips in an over the top considering motion. Even though he needed to strap down and start studying, the threat of taking away all his treats was drastic.

"No," she said finally "we can eat the peanut butter ones." She paused "And the ones with the jam in the middle of them."

"The lemon muffins?" Sora tried slowly, sticking his bottom lip out dramatically.

"Yeah okay, those too." She caved.

Laughing off the moment that had just passed Sora turned down Namine's street; if they were going to study then they might as well start now, right? But he was stopped by Namine's small and soft hand grabbing a fist full of blue shirt and nearly causing him to fall backwards. "Where do you think you're going?" she asked innocently.

"To your house to study of course, I mean early start and all that right?" He informed her slowly as she seemed to completely forget about her rant a whole, oh, two minutes ago? And Sora was the one with the bad marks…

"Erm, sorry Sora but I'm expecting company tonight, maybe tomorrow night?" She suggested, offering a sheepish smile that was most definitely hiding something. Ignoring her proposal, Sora immediately asked what was on his mind.

"Who are you expecting?" He quipped in an unnecessary tone and scowled lightly. He didn't mean for it to come out so harsh and he quickly apologized, "Sorry, it's just who would you be having over? My brother is at practice and so are Wakka and Tidus there's no one else it could be right? Not that I'm saying you can't have other friends, I mean that's totally fine with me, it's just you tell me everything. Right? "Sora was almost pleading by the end, he didn't want secrets between him and Namine, he trusted her, and this new person was upsetting, was there a girl she found she could hang out with? Tell all her secrets to instead. Sora knew he didn't understand all that female stuff, but he tried, even harder than he tried when he was studying.

"I'm sorry, he wanted to keep it a secret that's all," she said bashfully.

_What if she decides that I'm too much of a guy to hang out with anymore, that my manliness is too much for little her to handle!? That this girl is a much better companion that silly ol' me ever was..._Sora was continuing his train of thought in his head, oblivious to what Namine had just said. _Wait, what was that?_

"He!?" Sora practically yelled, taking a few steps back and looking over his blond friend as if she had some sort of a disease. Oh god, he was being left for another boy.

"Yes _he_," Namine interrupted quietly before Sora could continue on another rampage like he did earlier. She sighed and bit her lip, watching as Sora's face calmed and he relaxed a little. "But I'm sure he'd be okay if I only told you. But no telling anyone else alright? And no freaking out." Sora eyed her suspiciously, raising and eyebrow and pursing his lips slightly.

"Alright," he said cautiously and forced himself to calm down, making sure he was ready to take whatever Namine had to throw at him. He would not freak out. "Okay," he breathed. "I'm ready, go for it."



"…."

"Nam, come on," Sora whined, putting his hands together in mock prayer. "I won't tell anyone, I promise! Who is it?"

The blonde glanced over her shoulder to see that no one was coming up on them. Namine made sure no one was in range of hearing, and unless the flowers could talk and bees could tell secrets, no one except Sora would find out who was coming to her house tonight. There was hardly anyone on the street, save for a few kids playing hockey and a few Red Hat Society Women a good couple yards up the sidewalk from them. Not like they would care anyway? Still, she felt the need to inspect an elderly woman across the street before telling him.

"Do you know Riku?" She whispered.

"Do I know _Riku_? That's like asking someone if they've heard of the sun! A pretty good percentage of them have and if they haven't they're probably living in a cave being blind or something. You're telling me that Riku is meeting you at your place? Tonight?!" He cawed, causing the old woman to pause and shake her head. Sora was appalled. _Not 'appauled', because that's not how you spelt it – uhg. Now she's got me thinking of spelling outside of school!_

"Sora! Be quiet! You don't know how much those old ladies like to gossip. Thanks to you, by noon tomorrow, it'll probably reach half way across the Pacific!" She huffed, throwing her thin arms up in the arm and pointing at the brunet. "And yes, _Riku_ is coming over."

"To do what?" he said disgustedly. Namine was going to become a fangirl wasn't she? Or even worse, one of those girls who brag about how Riku 'scored' them. Oh no, his little Namine was going to be deflowered! "Don't let him touch you Namine!" He pleaded as he leaped towards her grabbing her arm.

"Sora you're over reacting. It's not like that, we're just friends. And he's coming only to hang out. Look Sora I'm already late I'll talk to you tomorrow okay?" With that said, she wrenched herself out of Sora's desperate grasp, and left without another word, running down the street to her house before Sora could protest. He stretched out a hand to catch her, but by that time she was already out of reach. A few unnerved noises echoed through the empty street before Sora crossed his arms and pouted. He considered running after her but, he was too lazy to do that, and he didn't really feel like confronting Riku about anything.

Riku? That's who she was going to see? _Well then I can't really compete with that can I?_

"What's so good about Riku anyway?" He asked himself, looking to the bright blue sky that seemed to imitate his eyes, for an answer. No such luck, it just glared back at him and caused his eyes to flutter back to the sidewalk. The brunet muttered incoherently and stuck his hands in his pockets. He couldn't see why every girl loved Riku, what did he have that the other guys didn't?

It felt like a long walk home to Sora as he kicked at stray rocks and muttered threats about a certain silver haired boy. He could dream all he wanted to, but he would never actually go through with any of his devious (albeit farfetched and impossible) plans. But who wouldn't be upset, he was being replaced by Riku. He stood no chance against him, none at all. He adjusted his backpack easily as he stepped onto his street, still enthralled and wondering about Namine and Riku. _Yeah right. 'Just friends.'_

Sora fished the keys to his house out of his back jean pocket, and unlocked the door, unceremoniously trumping in and slipping out of his shoes. Throwing his back pack at the foot of the stairs, he placed the keys back into his pocket. "I'm home," he announced tiredly, making his way past the empty living room and to the kitchen, dragging his feet on the carpet and onto the black and white checker tile. His blue eyes rested on his twin brother sitting on a barstool, scooping cereal into his mouth, 

glaring at the text book before him. His fingers scratched lightly as he scrapped them along the marble counter, making noise to make sure that Roxas knew he was there.

Sora blew up his cheeks like a puffer fish, opening the fridge and digging for something to eat, opening the door loudly and pushing glass jars against each other. He looked to his brother, still no response. He grabbed a couple grapes and slammed the door, expecting a blond head to shoot up and blue eyes to narrow. But nothing came from the boy.

"Hey Roxas," Sora greeted, as he rolled his eyes he took a seat across from Roxas on a stool by the island. Said boy looked up curiously, as if just noticing him. Knowing Roxas, he really _didn't_ hear Sora come in the house at all.

"Oh hey Sora," he smiled brightly. "When did you get home? Never even heard ya come in." He dug his spoon into the plastic yellow bowl, bringing the crunchy cereal to his mouth.

"Whatchya eatin'?" Sora asked, popping a few seedless yellow grapes into his own mouth.

"_Frou Woops._" He attempted saying with the cereal in his mouth, tilting his chin up and speaking out of the corner of his mouth. Sora raised an eyebrow and nodded, he had no idea what Roxas just said. He swallowed heavily and wiped his mouth of all things milky, sighing before correcting himself. "Fruit Loops,"

"Mom bought you Fruit Loops?" He gawked, usually their mother only bought them _Corn Flakes_ or _Life_.

"No," Roxas grinned, drawing out his vowels like a child. "Kairi and Demyx did," he informed his brother proudly. "After volleyball practice, it was a good one! Ohhh you shoulda been there. I spiked the ball so hard I almost gave Demyx a bloody nose!"

"A box _Fruit Loops_ was your reward? You could have asked for ice cream…or a pony Roxas," Sora said curiously as if his options were only those two. After all, that's what Sora would have asked for. Preferably the pony first…

"Kairi didn't have a lot of money on her, and Demyx is saving for a new guitar or sitar or whatever. It was cheap, and you know how much I love Fruit Loops," the blond explained, waving his spoon in the air with his eyes still on the text book that he wasn't even trying to read anymore. He muttered something about being done and slamming it shut, pushing it off to the side.

"I think Kairi likes you Roxas. She always seems to hang around with you," Sora noted, getting up from the stool and heading for the goodie cupboard.

"Pfft! Yeah right. I could never like Kairi like that, and I know for a fact that she's swooning over -who else?- Riku," the boy told Sora, nearly swallowing the whole spoon in the process of eating.

"Oh! Speaking of Riku, guess who Namine ditched me for?" Sora said a little uneasily, lifting himself on his toes to reach for the bag of chips hidden in the back_. Liquorices, gummi bears, Dentyne Ice, and ahh, there we go, sour cream and onion chips_. Sora sighed happily and he quickly grabbed a colourful bowl and dumped the chips into it.

"I'm going to say Riku?" Roxas mocked guess, even though he already knew who it was.

"Bingo!" Sora said, rolling his eyes and placing the chip bowl on the table, slipping back on the barstool. "What does he have that girls want so bad? I mean, I'm cute, I have all the goods," Roxas held back a laugh at the last comment.



"Yeah whatever," the blond rolled his eyes and Sora threw a chip at him, causing Roxas' hands to shoot over his Fruit Loops and scowl at his brother. "I don't know. He is very muscular..." Roxas mused "– what? – He is! _You_ don't have a gym class with him." Roxas pointed his spoon at the brunet when he received a very obvious glare.

"That may be true, but you think the girls would find it gross that he has silver hair…" Sora suggested, even though he himself wasn't disgusted by it.

"Nah, they find it 'mysterious' and 'handsome'," Roxas air quoted, drinking the rest of his milk that was in the bowl and getting up to put it in the sink.

"Guh, he's such a player. Can't they see right through the fact that he's so…so _fake?_" Sora tried, munching on a handful of potato chips.

"Sora, you're too over the top. I have a few classes with him and he's not all that bad. He doesn't really give off that 'I'm-a-total-pimp' vibe like you think he does," Roxas paused and tried to recall the day's events, shaking his head as he decided he couldn't even remember Riku in class that day.

"…did you just say 'pimp'?" He raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth in mid-chew. Roxas looked over his shoulder as he ran the bowl under the water, sticking his lips out lightly before bursting into laughter that Sora shortly followed with his own, nearly choking on his chips.

"Roxas, you're funny," he complimented, wiping a fake tear from his cheek. "Hey, want to watch a movie? Didn't mom pick one up last night for us?" He suggested.

"Sora, we both have to study," Roxas looked at Sora earnestly with big blue eyes that the other avoided.

"Pshaw. Roxas, you're so smart you skipped a grade, you don't need to study. And…I've drastically improved my mark in English. No need to study! Hoorah!" Sora pumped his hand in the air and smiled brightly.

"Last time I checked thirty four percent was not a passing grade Sora!" Roxas scolded the sides of his mouth being pulled into a look of disappointment.

"How did you find out about that!?" Sora squealed, crossing his arms and pouting.

"Ms. Rogers, before I left for home. She says you've been doing worse on the last few pop quizzes. I told her that you've been up in your room for at least an hour studying every night…" Roxas said, and judging by the 'innocent' face that his brother was faking, he had previously lied to the brunet's teacher. "You _have_ been studying _haven't_ you Sora?" He managed to get out through gritted teeth.

Sora huffed, he's tried to study, really, really hard. But when you have a perfect view of that ocean out your bedroom window, it's easy to get caught up in day dreaming. His room was full of distractions and it always turned out that no matter where he sat, there was something wrong with it. The bed was too bouncy, the chair too awkward and his floor was too hard. "It's not my fault!" Sora protested, putting his hands up to defend himself. Roxas frowned.

"My room is like, Distracto-land or something. Every time I start focusing, the next thing I know I'm playing some video game or going through old pictures! I swear Roxas, even _you_ couldn't study in that room of mine," the brunet explained to his brother. Even though Sora put up a good argument, he was still wrong.

"Then just study in the basement, or the kitchen or something," the blond suggested and Sora gaped.



"You can't be serious Roxas!" Sora's mouth was wide open as his eyes seemed close to bulging out. "You can't send me down to the basement. You don't know what's down there. No one does, I swear you could find a long lost kingdom or something down there! I thought you _loved_ me Roxas," a hand was clapped over his heart.

"Oh _puh-lease_. It can't be that bad, Mom cleaned it the other weekend, remember?" He laughed and sat back on his stool.

"She _said_ she was going to clean it," he whispered carefully. "But then she came upstairs with a box of her old Cd's and forced us to listen to Pat Benatar and Bette Midler and some Blue Rodeo," The twins stared blankly at each other for a brief moment before they shivered.

"I don't want another accident like that Roxas. You never know what I could find down there. Even the slightest mention of Eric Clapton might set off her alarm, and before we know it, we'll be listening to Pil-"

"I was a pilgrim for your love-" sang a sweet voice from behind Sora, Roxas paled and the brunet slowly turned around to see their mother carrying grocery bags and singing completely off key. "A pilgrim for your love, a pilgrim for your lo – oh hey boys!"

Sora looked to his brother and gave him a look that specifically said 'do-you-see-what-I-mean'. She placed the bags on the counter and a few apples rolled out of them. Her curly brunette locks bounced as she smiled at her children.

"Want to put these away for me please?" She asked sweetly before grabbing a couple fruits and vegetables and opening the fridge. "So how were your days at school? Meet new friends? Climb new ladders? All that jazz?"

"Well, volleyball practice went well, we have our first game soon. And Sora got thirty-" Roxas began, fully ready to spill the beans on his horrible grade before Sora cut him off.

"DOLLARS! For your birthday present…" he blurted out, glaring at Roxas before plastering a large and goofy grin on his face, grabbing a box of lasagna and a few cans of spaghetti sauce.

"Nice try Sora, but I know about your grade. And I can't say I'm impressed – or surprised for that matter…" she sighed and looked to her son, frowning just a little bit.

"How'd you – when did – why am I always the last one to find out about things?" Sora grimaced and pouted like a child.

"Your teacher called me last night. I thought you were studying up there in your room Sora! Maybe Roxas should teach you some stuff," their mom suggested slyly.

"NO!" The boys immediately shouted in unison.

"And besides, Namine said she'd help me study, so don't worry about it!" Sora convinced his mother, and she let her face fall from disappoint to mild interest.

"Namine is coming over? Oh good, I haven't seen her around here in ages! It'll be great to talk to her again," she cooed happily and gathered up the empty bags to place in the garbage. Sora raised an eyebrow, but decided not to tell his mom that the blond was over just a few days ago.

Roxas closed the fridge the rest of the groceries put away. Grabbing his textbook off the table he turned to Sora with a stern look on his face "C'mon Sora I _know _you have some studying to do." Sora started rolling his eyes when the fell upon and unpacked grocery bag.



"But look! There are still groceries to put away! Y'know with mom's back and all. I'll meet you upstairs in a bit," the brunet smiled artificially and hoped that would be enough to shrug his brother off. After that he'd sneak out the back, who said he needed to study? Namine was coming over the next day anyway.

"Now Sora, it's only chips and things, I'm quite sure my dented and broken back can take a few bags of Doritos. You go on upstairs and study," she said sarcastically, now effectively blocking anyway of getting out of studying.

"But Mom!" Sora whined his shoulders sagging.

"Go on hun! I want to see better grades from now on," smiling, she shooed her protesting son out of the kitchen. "Or who knows what'll happen? I may run out of peanut better..." Nothing more had to be said, and Sora was halfway up the stairs at the mention of being cut off from his mothers baking. _Threatened with it twice in one day_, people must think he has a cookie addition.

Sora trudged up the stairs after his brother, slowing down as he got closer to the top. Practically crawling past the last step." Roxaaaas, come on I know you're not going to make me study! You're my brother you can keep me not studying right? Like we used to when we were kids!"

"Sora when we were kids, we used to keep secrets about stealing cookies and who had Selphie's Barbie."

"Yeah but-" Sora started only to be cut off by a frustrated Roxas.

"No Sora, I won't keep a secret that could cause you to fall behind in school I just won't. You could fail a grade then drop out, have unprotected sex and _die_!_" _By the looks of it Roxas had only stopped because he had run out of air. If he had had more he probably could have kept going and found something worse than death. _Is that what I look like when I rant?_ Sora thought. _Gunna have to remind myself to do that less, it's extremely unattractive…_

"Sora are you even listening to me!?" Roxas was bright red now, and Sora could tell he was pushing his luck.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry, I won't die I promise. I'll study, look I'm going right now see?" Trying to satisfy his brother's murderous gaze Sora closed the door gently between the two of them, keeping his ear to it until he was sure he heard Roxas' frustrated footsteps leaving.

"Whew, what a nut-case glad he's gone. Now I can play so-" Sora sighed, relieved.

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT NOT STUDYING ASS MUNCHER!"

The voice coming from right next to his ear made him jump and he made a face at the name he was called. "Ewww ass-munching."

Sora shook himself and sat down at the small desk his mother had given him for studying. Looking down at the desk he was thoroughly depressed. Slumping in the chair he looked at his clock. It read 5:56, _alright I'll study until 8._ He remembered Namine once telling him that setting a time limit would help him concentrate harder. _It's worth a shot_, _but I can't very well study without my notes can I?_

Sora leaped back downstairs in search of his bag, it was right where he left it at the door of course, but he took his sweet time getting it anyway. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked casually into the kitchen, quietly tip-toeing past his mother who was watching some infomercial on Pancake Puffs. He lingered in the kitchen for something to snack on while he was studying, making minimal noise but still pretending to be preoccupied and fully interested in whatever he was doing. 

When his mother caught him rearranging the vegetables in the crisper she marched him back upstairs with a few cookies in hand. _Urg_ Sora thought _she just __**had**__ to be a baker and have some snacks available. _

Plopping himself back down into his chair, his clock now glaring 6:18, he sighed heavily. Even after a little rearranging and tidying of his area the clock only read 6:27 . _This is stupid why can't I just study already!_ He reprimanded himself and forced his hands to open his notebook to the English section. He started reading over the word list he was given today out loud, mouthing words and letters to himself trying his best to memorize them. _This isn't so bad_. Sora concluded with a hopeful smile on his face; maybe he wouldn't need Namine's tutoring after all._ I think I could get the hang of this!_

Sora was readying himself for another batch of words to memorize when his phone gave a loud ring from across the room. _Oh come on! I was just getting into it! _Sora considered letting it ring, but didn't want to risk it being a cute girl from school that wanted to get together… _As if!_ Sora rolled his eyes at his first thought and decided it was most likely Namine calling. He wasn't disappointed when he heard a soft voice over the phone when he asked who was there.

"Hey Sora, I told you I'd talk to you later," she said just as sweet as she was when she left.

"I assumed that meant tomorrow during class," he replied disgruntled at the fact that she interrupted him.

"What were you up to? I didn't interrupt anything private did I?" she asked a hint of humor in her voice. Sora was about to reply in outrage when he heard a snicker coming from Namine's line. And not one of those girly giggles that Selphie oh-so-often laughed. This was a very _manly_ snicker.

"Is Riku still there?" Sora automatically asked, scrunching up his nose and glaring at the blue phone as if they could both see him through it.

"Er yeah he is. Why?" Namine confessed, and glared at the silver haired boy who didn't think he did anything wrong. He merely shrugged and threw a ball he had up in the air, listening to their conversation.

"No reason just, are you going to be hanging out with him all the time now?" He put it off slyly, but the urgency in which he asked her had worry in it.

"Well no, you're my best friend still..." Hearing a faint 'Are you jealous of a pretty boy like me!' in the background made Sora huff.

"I am _not_ jealous. And who said he was pretty!?" Sora fought back loudly, pouting and moving to find a comfortable position on his bed.

"Your mom! Last night!" Riku yelled at the phone, trying to get his point across. He started to laugh but was silenced by the narrowing blue eyes that Namine had.

"That's so immature. Listen, I just don't want to lose you to a girl chasing guy like Riku," Sora said rolling his eyes as he bit back his own childish retort.

"Sora he's not – look I just wanted to call you to let you know we can come help you study tomorrow night," Namine pressed a hand to her forehead, dealing with a hysteric Sora on one end and a laughing Riku on the other was tough. She sighed and ran a hand through her blonde hair.

"I was doing just fine on my own before you called," he told her proudly. "Wait, what do you mean by '_we'?_ You're not going to drag that womaniser into my house are you? Namine! There's no telling what he'll do once inside here!" Sora was a little more irritated now. This guy was cutting in on his alone 

time with Namine. Besides he didn't want him here when he was studying with her, he'd just make him nervous. The last thing he wanted was to look like an idiot of front of Riku. _Why should I care anyway?_ But the more Sora thought about it the less he wanted to look stupid. He just couldn't shake the feeling.

"Don't even think about trying to get out of this Sora, we're coming over after school tomorrow we'll talk about it then. Love you Sora! See you tomorrow!" Hearing Riku exclaiming to Namine about 'what!? am I not!' and 'Ooo love Nam?' made him want to scream at him over the phone. Of course, he couldn't, so he'd settle with glaring at the phone until it beeped earnestly and made him hang up.

_When did he get the right to call her Nam?_ Sora sighed and lay back onto his bed, the phone now discarded on his clean floor. _What could she possible be doing with Riku at her house?_ Rolling over, Sora knew it was useless to bother trying to study now. He had lost his groove. He'd just have to wait until tomorrow when Namine was here. _Oh yeah, and Riku, _he remembered grudgingly, making a face at the mention of him. Closing his eyes, he resigned himself to a fitful night.

**AN:** So yeah there it is. Not too shabby eh? We thought it was pretty snazzy.

Lady A - Talk about the chapter names!

Rockkie- Oh, yeah right. With our chapter names, we're going to play 'Guess That Obscure Lyric'! Yaaaay!

Lady A - And what do they win!?

Rockkie- Love. And their name mentioned at the beginning of the chapter. And possibly their pet's name -strokes beard-

Lady A - You don't a have a beard...

Rockkie- Right -strokes YOUR beard-

Lady A - Much better... grins

Alright so review please! We appreciate so much, and it makes us happy. : )


	2. Feels Like The Raindrops On My Skin

**AN: We so don't own Kingdom hearts or any of it's characters. Yet...**

**Lady A: **Rocket Girls and I had one fun time writing this chapter. At first it was all going well then BAM computer deleted the file. Teach us to not back anything up right? Then BAM monitor goes. We were all." Fck this Sh!t" But we can't abandon this story now. We promise to finish it. Srsly we do. Also this chapter was written at like 3 in the morning. And there was a lot of 'muffing' involved with Sora's mom. just read. Don't ask. Durr durr durr.

I honestly want to thank you guys who reviewed! And to all the favorites and alerts. Rocket Girls and I were like Omg! People read it. Sweet! And once again guess the obscure lyric is still running. The song is usually is the song we listed to while writing the chapter near the end. Nothing to do with the mood of the chapter at all. Thanks and on with the shoooe. Show.

* * *

Sora awoke to his brother banging on his door. "SORA GET UP OR YOU'LL BE LATE!" Sora rolled over in his bed. The clock glared 8:35 at him. _Ugh he could have woken me up a little earlier._ He thought as he rolled out of bed, only to find that he had fallen asleep with his clothes still on. _Eww now I'm all gross._ Looking back at the clock Sora decided he didn't have time to shower today. Instead he threw on a new outfit and made his way down the stairs two or three at a time. It was only when he was halfway down the stairs when he realised that he had forgot his notebooks. Booking it back up he stuffed his work into his bag and leaped back down the stairs two at a time. Skidding to a halt in the kitchen he kissed his mother on the cheek and grabbed a pop tart from the counter. "Sora you know those aren't a suitable breakfast!" 

"I know, but I don't have time for pancakes today. Tomorrow promise." With that Sora closed the front door and jogged to catch up to his brother who turned out to be halfway to the school.

"Coulda waited you know." Sora said blandly, scarfing down the rest of his pop-tart. The morning sun was unnecessarily warm, making his back uncomfortable with the amount of books he had stuffed into his packsack.

"I know. But I like seeing you rush," Roxas replied coolly. Sora glared at him his mouth to full to reply, instead he grumbled, a few crumbs sputtering from his lips and causing his brother to snort.

"Jeeze Sora, I thought you had some manners," he noted sarcastically.

"Says the boy, who tried to order peanut butter and jelly from a five star restaurant," Sora shot back after he forced down the rest of his pop tart.

"Hey, I was like what – _seven?_ It wasn't my fault I didn't like 'Filet minion' or 'steak a la mode.' My taste buds weren't fully developed yet," he stated matter-of-factly with the kind of authority that made him sound like he was a teacher.

" 'A la mode' is ice cream Roxas..." Sora informed his brother casually, his mind on steak with ice cream. How would that taste anyway?

"Really?" the blond said thoughtfully. "Anyway, did you study enough last night?"

"I got a bit done. But then Nam called me and broke my concentration," he scowled at his feet. "Riku's tagging along after school today for my study session."

"I don't know why you hate him so much," Roxas sighed, his shoes dragging along the sidewalk.

"Do I _need_ a reason? I mean, he was teasing me over the phone. How _low_ can you get?" Sora rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Sora, he's not so bad," Roxas tried, but Sora already had it in his head that Riku was the worst guy on earth.

"How many people do you think he's done anyway?" The brunet asked his brother haughtily.

"Sor-"

"I'd put my money on fifteen. Wait! No may-"

"Sora."

"Twenty. Yeah. Or somewhere in between that. Did you hear about him and Tifa?" Sora gossiped and continued to talk to Roxas even though he wasn't paying attention at all.

"SORA!" The blond yelled right into his twin's ear.

"OW! Oh my _god_ Roxas that was my _ear!_ You didn't have to yell," Sora rubbed his ear with a pout on his face.

"I think we're _late_," he forced through gritted teeth. His brother could be so dense sometimes… Sora's eyes flashed to the school only yards ahead. The front lawn was completely empty, no kids running around torturing each other or couples smooching.

"Oh, you're right. Why didn't you say that sooner Roxas?" The brunet scolded before flashing his brother a mischievous smile and running off towards the school. "Eat my dust!" Sora yelled back. Roxas just stood there and let everything register before taking off like a light, his feet pounding the sidewalk and then the grass, easily catching up to a laughing Sora. Roxas always was the athletic one, but Sora was still competitive, and challenged the blonde to anything even though he knew he was going to lose.

The two ran across the perfectly green lawn, kicking up dirt and grass seeds as they went, and leaving shoe prints in the occasional damp ground. They jumped over the small garden, making sure not to graze the daisies the principal loved so much with their heels. Laughing, the twins leapt up the concrete front steps and both slowed down, panting in front of the glass doors, hands on their knees and trying to laugh.

Roxas swung open the door and slipped inside coughing, Sora following easily. The hallway was quiet, but Sora was able to hear the chatter of the classrooms. The two split up, Roxas heading down the senior's wing and Sora walking hastily to his locker.

"Oh wait, SORA!" Roxas stopped and turned around. "I have a game tonight, tell mom I'll be late alright?"

"Got it. Game – mom – late!" The brunet shouted back and flashed him a thumbs up. He threw his backpack into his locker and quickly grabbed his English binder. _Whoever scheduled English as my first class was an idiot…_

Sora walked past the open doors of classrooms and ran when he could, holding his things to his chest and turning corners. It was only when he saw his books scattered on the hallway floor he realised that he wasn't running anymore – or that matter, _standing_ anymore. He rubbed his lower back, what the hell did he trip over?

"Ow…" he complained audibly.

"You okay?" Sora looked up at the sound of a voice he knew all to well. Riku stood above him with a hand out but a sort of stern look drawn on his face.

"I'm _fine_," he spat acidly, and Riku withdrew the hand.

"Well then," he stated cockily. "If you're going to be _rude_. I might as well not help you up!" Sora scowled and reached for his belongings and grumbling as he was doing it. He helped himself up quickly and wiped off his pants.

"What are you doing in the halls anyway?" Riku asked casually, following Sora who could no longer hurry because _all _the doors were left open. Curse them…

"I was late," Sora mumbled. "What's your excuse?"

"Spare, just had to get my notes back from Demyx," the silver haired boy shrugged and easily kept up with Sora who was trying his best to get away.

"Oh," Sora said, in no mood to start up a conversation with the womaniser.

"What class?" He asked.

"English," the brunet stated.

"Ah, the one you're failing right?" Riku smirked and Sora stopped in his tracks.

"I'm not _failing_. Just having some difficulties," Sora informed the other who loomed over him with a smiled on his face.

"That's not what Namine told me…"

"Yeah, well. Namine doesn't have her facts straight then. One low mark doesn't count as _failing_," Sora said and added a fake smile and continued on his way.

"One? I thought it was more like, fifteen, or maybe twenty" Riku wondered out loud just to bother the shorter male.

"Listen!" Sora said exasperated. "I have to get to class."

"Which is down the other hall, by the way…" the other coughed. Sora stopped and blinked, wait, what?

"Gah, that's your fault. Stop distracting me!" He said and turned on his heel, Riku keeping down a laugh.

"So, how are you going to get your grades up?" He asked as if they were friends.

"Huh? Oh, you and Namine are coming to my house after school to study with me aren't you?" Sora replied easily.

"Well, yeah. But Namine does have her other assignments to worry about,"

"Namine wouldn't ditch me," Sora scoffed. "She knows how much I need this." But then again, what Riku said was right. Both of them had major assignments coming up, what if she couldn't help him anymore? What would he do then? He could _try_ to study on his own but he always got distracted easily, so it wouldn't really do him any good. Riku hummed and continued to walk with Sora, having nothing better to do and knowing that he annoyed the brunet.

"Anyway, I gotta get in class before Ms Rogers notices I'm gone…" he said and stood in front of the closed door. He didn't want to go in, not one bit. She was bound to chew him out and give him detention.

"Alright," Riku smiled. "See you later!" He left with a small wave.

'_See you later'… Right _Sora sighed and looked to his feet, his eyes closed tight. He held his breath before putting a hand on the doorknob and opening it slowly to slip in quietly…

"Good thing there was no pop quiz today, ya?" Wakka said lightly, lying back on the green grass of the front lawn, his hands behind his head. They had all decided to eat lunch outside today because it was too stuffy indoors and the cafeteria was always packed full.

"Yeah. Thank god Ms. Rogers lost her papers or we might have seen a total Sora mental breakdown!" Tidus laughed then burst into a series of twitches and face making. Sora just rolled his eyes as everyone else laughed like hyenas.

"Yeah, yeah…" Sora said and threw an apple at the twitching ball of sugar, hitting him in his stomach. Tidus cringed dramatically and clutched at his belly, falling onto his back.

"Man down, man down!" He squawked, but it's effect was ruined however when it was spoken in between laughs. As Tidus broke into a fit of giggles underneath the oak tree, the three others continued with their lunches. This was normal behaviour for Tidus.

"Hey, where's Selphie?" Sora asked, munching on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, failing as he wiped a sticky jam streak off his cheek.

"Oh. She's at practice," Namine said happily, stabbing her fork into the salad she had in a plastic container.

"She's always doing that these days, ya?" Wakka asked, more of a statement than a question.

"Well, it _is_ cheerleading Wakka," Tidus said, now calming himself down and picking the grass off his sleeves. "She's not exactly the most co-ordinated person after all…"

"Like the time she tripped over her own feet and broke the carton of eggs in home ec?" Sora laughed.

"Didn't Mr. Strife send her all the way to the store to get a new one?" Namine asked, stuffing lettuce in her mouth.

"Then I didn't come back until halfway through Science?" A familiar voice drifted into their heads and they all look up to see Selphie with her fists on her hips and light blue and white pom-poms in them. "Come on you guys, will you _ever_ forget that?"

"Nope," Tidus told her breezily. "We're _never_ going to let you live it down."

"That, or the time you called Squall a 'total hottie' right to his face. You got extra work for a week, ya?" Wakka chuckled.

"Wakka! Shut your mouth!" Selphie shouted, rightfully throwing a pom-pom at him. She sat herself between Namine and the red head who was now suffocating under the cheer utensil. She sighed and pulled a loose white sweater over her uniform, although she still wore a skirt shorter than any Sora had ever seen. Why did the cheerleaders have to dress so skimpy?

"How was practice?" Namine asked politely.

"Ugh, Tifa is the _worst_ captain ever. She keeps telling us that we're doing it wrong even though I know it's perfect," Selphie ranted, rolling her eyes and throwing her hands up in the air for added effect.

"But in the end it's worth it, right?" Sora smiled.

"I hope. I've had enough of Tifa and her arabesques, basket tosses and dead mans!" She shouted at them and defiantly crossed her arms. Namine was the only one who knew what she was talking about. The guys just nodded their heads.

"So you just left?" Tidus asked hesitantly.

"Huh? Oh yeah," Selphie said, rooting through Namine's lunch for something to eat. The blonde just sighed and let her go for it.

"Won't they kick you off?" Sora sucked the last bit of juice from his juice box noisily.

"Nope, they need me. I'm basically the only flyer they have," the bouncy brunette smiled, peeling a tangerine with her long nails and burying the scraps in a shallow hole she had made.

"Selphie, that's littering," Sora told her with a frown.

"No, Sora, it's not. They're bio degradable, I'm helping the environment," Selphie informed him with a light smile. Okay, that was true. Sora sighed and was about to lie down when the bell rang. He and Namine stood and brushed the dirt off their pants, waved goodbye to their friends and headed off to art.

Ms Gainsborough was an awesome teacher. She had curly brown hair and she taught an easy class. There were hardly any major assignments or projects. There were no worksheets or pop quizzes. She mostly just told the class what the main idea was of the art, and let them go. They could paint anything they wanted with any medium they could lay their hands on. Of course, a few hooligans in her older classes always ended up using broken things glued to canvases as a joke…

"Did you happen to study last night Sora?" Namine asked, setting out her paint and brushes on the easel.

"A little bit," Sora grunted, not really sure what to paint. "Tell me again, why does Riku have to come?"

"Sora," Namine sighed. "Why don't you like him?"

"He's a womaniser. He laughed at me this morning and was really rude," he complained, sticking his brush into the blue paint and stroking it angrily on the canvas.

"You saw him this morning?" Namine questioned, a thin and careful brush tracing a gentle outline of whatever she was painting,

"Yeah I ran into him," Sora recalled. "He wouldn't help me up." It seemed like his hand had a mind of it's own, and he wasn't about to stop it. After all, he could turn out to be the next Picasso.

"That doesn't sound like Riku. He's always nice to me…" Namine wondered to herself.

"Well la-di-da," Sora mocked and regretted it immediately.

"Sora, there's no need to get fussy…" she breathed quietly, wiping her brush on the paper towel.

"I know, I'm sorry," he apologised.

"Just give him a chance. I think you're just expecting the worst out of him so much, that no matter what he does, it's a bad thing," she told him gently. Sora blinked.

"You sound like Dr. Phil Nam," the brunet laughed and suffered a white streak of paint on his cheek. He scowled and knew better than to start a paint war with the blonde. They laughed in the corner of the art room and received wary looks from the other students.

"Nam, how come everything I paint ends up looking like the phallic symbol?" Sora asked and cocked his head to one side to look at his painting. The blonde finished her line before looking to her friends artwork, then lapsed into a fit of giggles.

"Maybe your mind is trying to tell you something Sora," she suggested, nudging him with her elbow.

"Oh gross. I've been drawing since I was _five_. I really doubt I was thinking about male anatomy when I was that young," Sora made a face of disgust and stuck out his tongue.

The rest of his classes were as easy as art. He had a sub for math, so Tidus ended up torturing the poor girl with spitballs and telling her that the normal teacher let us fool around. No one protested though, either it was have fun or doing questions one to seventy five out the textbook. And Science was always and easy class. Mr Noble was a total bore with a monotonous voice, drawing out each word until it was multisyllabic. He just handed out a worksheet and Sora was done in a matter of minutes.

Sora split up with Namine on his way home. She had promised to give him time to shower before her and Riku came over. _Ugh right he's coming too_. Sora trudged the rest of the way home, thinking that if he stalled here he wouldn't have to spend as much time in Riku's presence. Fishing his keys out of his pockets he opened the door and dropped his bag by the shoes. "Mom!" he called " you home yet?" There was no answer_ Hmm must still be at work_ Sora thought and made his way to his shower. Turning it on so that it was almost too hot he got undressed and stepped in. Letting the water fall over himself, he relaxed a little. _Maybe studying tonight won't be so bad. Maybe Riku will get into some sort of accident and won't be able to make it._

_Why do you hate him so much?_ Asked a voice inside his head.

_He's so arrogant , and stuck up and pretty!_ Wait, that's not what he meant. _Dammit!_ Sora was pretty too, but just not as pretty.

_Jealousy._ Said the voice finally. Sora thumped his head against the shower wall and closed his eyes. Why did Namine have to befriend someone like _that!_

Pushing the whole situation from his mind Sora began to clean himself. He didn't shower that morning and he spent a little extra time soaking in the heat from the shower. He must have spent more time then he thought because he heard a light knock at the door._ Namine _he thought _She's the only one who knocks_. His mother preferred to bust into the bathroom unexpectedly. Which lead to a lot of embarrassing moments. Sora shook his head ridding himself of any unwanted memories and turned the shower off. Grabbing a towel from the rack he mentally prepared himself for the battle that was about to happen.

* * *

"Frig this is stupid" Axel grumbled to himself as he watched the small blonde boy run back across the court. _And it's cold in here._ Axel pulled gloves out of his backpack and slid them over his hands. _Heh let's hope I got the right kid. Or else I look preeetty creepy._ Axel had overheard his best friend talking to the girl he's been hanging out with lately. She mentioned something about studying at her friend's house. W_hat __was her name?_ He had only ever seen her from the back or from afar. But he knew well enough that she not only hung out with Riku, but the spiky brown haired twin. The other of the twins was playing volleyball on the court, sweat now beading down his face. _Hmmm, they really do look alike._

Axel focused on a blank spot on the wall by the bleachers across from him. He had figured that if he followed the boy to his house, he'd probably find his best friend, and once that was done he'd drag him away from the little girl he's been hiding away and go have some real fun on the other side of town. Volleyball couldn't hold his attention, in fact he really didn't like any sports with a passion. _Well maybe swimming._ Axel smirked remembering back to when he was a kid and used to go swimming all the time. _Only way to keep cool. Now I'm just cold all the time_. Axel was lost in thought when the buzzer sounded. He looked up to see the teams shaking hands and leaving for the change rooms. _We won._ He thought absently to himself and got up to leave. He decided to wait for the kid outside, might make him look a little stalkerish is he caught him outside the change rooms.

"Hey," said a strange voice from behind him. Roxas turned around to see a tall lanky kid in a toque and gloves jogging to catch up to him.

"Er hi?" said Roxas caught off guard by the guys friendly nature. _Random people aren't usually this nice are they?_ Roxas started to walk a little quicker not wanting to spend anymore time with this guy than possible. An outstretched hand stopped him however, right in front of his face. _How did he get in front of me so fast?_ Roxas concentrated on the glove, deciding on whether to take it or not.

"You gunna shake it? It's only polite," the stranger stated plainly.

"Er - with your gloves on?" Roxas asked trying to avoid touching him if possible. He thought he had gotten away with it when he saw the taller boys scrunched up face. Roxas grinned to himself and was about to step past the boy when he started to take off his gloves. Slowly Axel tugged at the fingers with his teeth finally slipping the black thing off from the wrist. The glove still clenched between his teeth he raised an eyebrow his now uncovered hand outstretched. Roxas took the hand begrudgingly, "I'm Roxas" he stated, when something made him jump. "Whoa why are you so cold?" he let go of the boys hand quickly, his fingers tingling. Rubbing his hands together to return them back to their regular temperature he glared up at the boy as if it was his fault.

"Dunno," he replied slipping his hand back into his glove. "Been like that for a while," he shrugged "I'm Axel by the way". Roxas started walking again when he realised Axel was still following him. He started to walk a little faster but Axel's long legs allowed him to catch up easily. _Heh, this kids fun, little panicky, but fun._ Roxas sighed and resigned himself to walking beside the toqued boy. They walked in silence for a while, Axel rearranging his hat every once in a while or whistling some nameless tune. Finally Roxas had had enough.

"Okay why are you following me?" he asked stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. Axel merely looked at him, a smirk on his face.

"I have to go to your house of course," he said easily completely unfazed by the look of confusion on the blonde boy's face.

"Oh, alright. That's- Wait, hold on a sec. What? Why!?" Roxas said louder than before. "I don't even know you!"

"I told you my name," Axel raised his eyebrows and shrugged lightly.

" That's not the point _Axel,_ and you know it!" Roxas said heatedly. Axel was a little taken aback by the way Roxas had spoke his name. _Whoa, now that's a temper._ Axel smiled to himself. _He's more fun to tease then Demyx. _Axel continued to smile at Roxas until the kid looked like he was going to blow a gasket.

"Okay, okay, woah, relax." Said Axel putting his hands in front of him in defence. " My best friend is at your house, probably helping your brother study." Roxas blinked confusion once again replacing anger. Axel watched him mull it over and then turn around and start walking again.

"Riku?" he asked politely.

"The one and only." Axel said catching up to him again.

"Yeah, a-alright then. I guess you can come back with me."

"Oh why thank you" he said as if he wasn't already going to go anyway. Roxas turned into a driveway of a modest looking house a little while later and starting fishing in his pockets for his keys, when Axel pushed him out of the way and opened the door. Giving Roxas an 'it wasn't unlocked ' look he shrugged and entered the house. " Rikuuuuu are you here?" he yelled into the house.

* * *

Sora had been right it was Namine at the door to the shower he said his hellos and made his way to his room, Namine following close behind. She closed the door behind them and turned to face Sora. 

"Sora ", she spoke softly, "your why do you hate hi-" she was interrupted by Sora's grunting.

"Nam can you turn around for me please." It wouldn't matter if she did see him naked, but he still had his morals, she was an innocent little virgin girl after all. Namine finished her thought however still facing the door.

"hate him so much?"

"I don't hate him per say," Sora explained, pulling on a pair of boxers followed by khaki shorts. His mother had always told him that 'hate' was too strong a word to use for just anything especially people. "I just really, don't like him."

"Well why?" She questioned further. She really wasn't going to let this rest was she? Sora sighed remembering his thoughts in the shower earlier. Slipping on a t-shirt he said exactly what he was thinking.

"He's just so arrogant and stuck up and you've heard all those things about him and all those girls!" Sora finished there, not having the energy for a rant at the moment.

"So you're jealous." It was more of a statement then a question. Namine folded her arms in triumph. "I knew it." Sora rolled his eyes but considered her reasoning. Maybe Sora was a little envious of all the girls Riku had been with. Sora hadn't even had his first kiss yet. The more Sora pondered on it the more it made sense.

_It's true,_ the voice said to him, _you don't even know him._ Sora opened his mouth to agree with Namine and apologise for being so judgmental when he heard the click of the fridge door downstairs. But his mother wasn't home…Riku was in his fridge! Where all his goodies were! Sora focused his attention back on Namine who had heard the door as well, and braced herself for the worst.

"If he touches my lemon muffins he's going to be hurt!" Sora opened his door and bounded down the stairs yelling about 'severe injuries' and 'dental records'. When he wrenched opened the door to the kitchen he was surprised to see his mother at the fridge instead of Riku.

"My, my Sora, you've got a mouth on you today! I know how to fix that up." With that said she pushed a muffin into Sora's now open mouth before he could say anything. Sora's mom took out another muffin and handed it to Riku, who Sora didn't even realise, was standing right behind him. Sora practically jumped across the kitchen when he saw how close Riku was to him. Riku merely chuckled and took a bite out of his muffin. Sora glared at him and took another, more vicious, bite as well. Namine had made her way into the kitchen and saw the way the two boys were looking at each other. She was about to give them a piece of her mind when a muffin was pushed into her mouth also.

"Oh Namine, you eat far to less for a girl your age all skin and bones you are." Sora's mom put the rest of the muffins back into the fridge and took a hold of Riku's arm. "Come on now, we'll leave these two to study, you promised to tell me about your trip to Alberta."

Sora munched down the rest of his muffin. Not really enjoying the taste it left in his mouth._ Stupid Riku_, he thought bitterly, _had to go and turn my mom on his side too. _Sora caught a glimpse of them sitting on the couch his mom laughing at a joke Riku had just made, before Namine closed the door.

"Leave them alone Sora, your Mom she's just being a good hostess" Namine sat down in a chair, Sora took the one beside her. "Besides if you wanted to make your mom happy then surprise her with a good English mark for once, you now she worries about your work." Sora grunted a response but pulled his thought away from the living room. Putting all his attention on the book, he looked up at Namine.

"All right how do we do this?"

"Do what?" she asked not really understanding what Sora was getting at.

"Y'know," Sora said picking up his notebook letting it hang open, "Study. We doing poetry, essays, polygons?"

"Polygons are math Sora, and no were going to do definitions since that's what the test will mostly be on. We can cover other stuff later." She pulled a blue duotang out of her binder and opened it up.

"Hey I don't have one of these" Sora said, feeling left out.

"Of course you don't Ms. Rogers gave it to me to help you, it's a study guide."

"Eww that sounds gross." Sora backed up in his chair a little away from the evil blue book.

"Don't look at me like that Sora it's not that bad! Think of it as like a mini dictionary of words you should know by now okay?" She tried to act cheery but this only frustrated Sora even more. _How can she be so happy about English? _She read over the first page and Sora caught a glimpse of black pen and Ms. Rogers's handwriting. It wasn't in red and that calmed Sora little bit. Namine read over the note and smiled to herself. "I'll give you a word and you give me a meaning okay_?"_ she paused to see if Sora acknowledged her offer, when he grumbled a bit she continued. "All right let's see here the first word is 'abhor.' "

"Seriously hate" Sora stated through clenched teeth.

"Right," said Namine cheerily obviously trying to ignore the fact that Sora's mood hadn't improved. Sora stared at the blank page in front of him not really caring about Namine's praises at the moment. "Next then."

Sora made it all the way through abandon, abrasion and abstain without any problems, and he was starting to feel pretty confident. _This isn't going to be so bad,_ he thought. He seemed to know most of the words already. "All right Nam next word" he said after successfully defining the next word 'accentuate'.

"Calm down, Sora your starting to scare me a little," she giggled at Sora's enthusiasm, then read out the next word. " Acquisition" She stared at the blank look on his face.

"What?" was his answer as he blinked several times.

"Ac-qui-sition-" she spoke slower this time.

"It doesn't matter how slow you say it Nam I'm still not going to get it." Sora stared back at Namine, "What now?"

"Well I guess we could write down the word, I'll tell you the definition and we'll come back to it later?" she offered it didn't sound like a bad idea to Sora. So he copied the word as Namine spelt it out for him.

"Acquisition, the act of acquiring or gaining," she said.

"OH! So getting something."

"Right but by yourself," She corrected gently.

"Okay then," Sora thought for a moment ,"getting yourself something." Sora's slump didn't end there. It seemed that Ms.Rogers put all the easy words at the beginning to boost his confidence. But now he didn't know any of the words that Namine was giving him. His re-word list was getting longer. Filling up with words like, adonis, allegiance, amplify and artery. It wasn't all that bad though, Sora got the word alchemy, if only for his secret love for video games.

"Naam," he whined at her, " let's just quit I mean I have like twenty words already and that's just the 'a's!"

"We've only got a few left Sora. We'll wait after the end of these okay?" She looked at the clock, Roxas would be home soon, she'd have to rush through the last words before she lost all of Sora's attention. "Okay, here goes the next word. The next word is ax-"

"AXEL" They heard a loud shout coming from the living room. And Sora's studying was duly forgotten as a red faced Roxas stormed into the kitchen.

"You okay Rox?" Asked Sora cautiously.

"Do I look okay?" Roxas asked as he rummaged through the cupboards finally grabbing his box of Fruit Loops. Stuffing his hand into the box he continued. "That guy in there followed me home and practically barged in here!"

"You!" Namine burst out and pointed to the red head who now stood at the doorway. She was up in a second and was latched onto the boys arm. The girl must of registered with the boy because instead of shrugging her off he ruffled her blonde hair affectionately.

"Hey! How's Larx's little sis?"

"Great!" Namine replied still hugging Axel tightly. "She's having a good time since she left. Larx has been wondering how you've been doing."

"Oh y'know still breathing." Namine removed her arms from around him and moved her way over to the table. Axel followed her, leaning against the counter the two of them engaged in a friendly chat. Sora caught his brothers gaze over the box of Fruit Loops and gave him a look that said '_I know, what the?' _When a silver haired boy at the kitchen door interrupted him.

"Hey what do you think your doing?" interrupted Sora who saw Riku make his way from the doorway of the kitchen to the fridge. Riku stuck his head in the fridge and mumbled his answer into the celery.

"What was that?" Sora asked becoming slowly more frustrated then he was at the homework.

"I said," spoke Riku raising his head from behind the refrigerator door, "I'm getting something to drink."

"Who said that you could just raid my fridge?" Sora pouted and scowled at Riku who now had a juice box in his hand.

"Your mom," he said easily, and this time it wasn't a jab at Sora. The brunet crossed his arms and continued to glare at Riku. Namine was chatting cheerily with Axel at the kitchen table, Roxas staring at them while stuffing his hand into the Fruit Loop box and eating them dry.

"You know, you don't look cool drinking out of a juice box," Sora faked a smile at the silver haired boy leaning over his kitchen's island counter and sucking through a straw.

"Yes I do," Riku countered with a grin.

"No, you don't. No one looks cool drinking from a box."

"Well, maybe you don't, but then again when _do_ you cool?" He smirked maliciously, causing Sora to let out a small, almost inaudible, growl. "In case you didn't notice Sora. I _always_ look cool."

"Well, aren't we modest?" Sora shot back sarcastically.

"The most." Sora rolled his eyes at his answer and turned his back on Riku, maybe if he pretended he didn't exist, he'd go away.

"Hey Riku! When did you get here?" Axel looked up from explaining a very important guitar solo, Demyx had shown him, to Namine to see that the silver haired boy was standing in the kitchen.

"Five minutes ago?" Riku tried honestly, casually taking a seat across from the red head.

"Get a gig for your band yet Ax?" Riku asked, joining in the conversation with ease.

"Nah, not yet. Ever since Larxene's band left on tour, the club managers don't want to 'spoil the fruit' if you know what I mean…" Axel sighed and pulled his hat a little lower.

"Bummer," Riku stated, noisily slurping the last of the juice and flashing his aqua eyes to Sora who was glaring at him. Just to bug him, he continued to make the noise long after the juice was gone.

"Quit that," Sora shouted, swiping the juice box out of Riku's hand and scowling at him. The other just snorted.

"By the way, I heard you like licking wood Sora," Riku mentioned and Namine held back a laugh.

"Yeah, _hard_ wood," Axel added with a grin.

"Gah! Namine, you told them?" Sora blushed furiously and glared at the blonde. Namine had her hand to her mouth as she nodded her head.

"Jeeze Sora. I know where you can get some hard wood to lick," Riku suggested and Sora turned a deeper shade of red, burying his face into his hands groaning. By now even _Roxas_ was snorting and giggling.

"I wouldn't be laughing blondie," Riku snorted. "I heard you singing 'I Don't Need A Man' in the showers yesterday." Now it was Roxas turn to blush.

"I thought everyone was already gone!" He mumbled into his knees, his blonde hair being ruffled by a laughing Axel who had made his way over from the table. Sora was about to speak up to defend his wounded pride when his mother took this moment to burst into the kitchen singing at the top of her lungs.

"Well did my two boys get much sun today? Or did Namine regale you all with the story of Roxas and Sora's first trip to see Santa?"

"No actually", said Axel grinning "please tell." Thankfully Roxas took this moment to come crashing down off the counter taking Axel with him. Whether it was by accident or on purpose Sora would have to thank him either way. Roxas mumbled sorry as Axel helped him to his feet. "S'no problem", said Axel ruffling the blonde's hair again. This time Roxas didn't bother to fix it. "Ah wanna go Ri?" Axel asked nodding his head in Riku's direction. Riku shrugged.

"Sure." He turned to Sora's Mom. "Thanks again Hannah, I had a really good time and I seriously loved your muffins." Sora stared open mouthed at Riku. _When was he on first name basis with his mom? And when did he get so polite?_

"Anytime hun, " she smiled sweetly at him, and because Riku was so much taller then her she patted him on the shoulder.

"Wait. Everybody got a muffin but me?" Axel mock pouted.

"OH! That's right you came late!" Sora's mom busied herself in the fridge while Namine packed up her books off the table.

"Sora I'm going to get going too. I have a few things for homework still to do." She finished putting the rest of her stuff in her bag.

"Yeah okay," was Sora's only reply. Hannah had finished fishing a muffin out of the fridge for Axel.

"Here you are." She said placing the muffing in Axel's open mouth.

"thfs mrrm" was the muffled reply.

"What was that?" she asked politely.

"Sorry," he apologised, clearing his throat, " Thanks Mom.."

"Your welcome" she said back completely unfazed by the familiarity. Roxas looked outraged but chose this moment grab a muffin of his own Riku exited the kitchen. Axel, while still eating his muffin followed after. Namine took her leave as well, hugging Sora before she left the room. Sora and Roxas walked to the front door to see Namine off, Hannah standing behind them. Namine caught up with Riku and Axel at the end of the driveway., and turned to wave. Sora waved back and Hannah yelled after the trio. " Don't forget Riku dinner on Friday! Bring your friend if he wants to come to!" A loud 'Sweet diner' could be heard coming from Axel and both Roxas and Sora started to protest before their mom closed the door on both of them.

* * *

**Rocket Girls**: SO YEAH. that's how it goes, pretty neat huh? Chapter two is really long, probably due to the fact that Chapter three is going to be really short and a filler chapter. 

Lady A : You're just lazy.

Rocket Girls: Same goes for you then!

Lady A : -makes rice cake gun-

Rocket Girls : Oh my. God!

Alright! That's it. Reveiw please!


	3. I Wish I Saved Up for Rainy Days

**AN: **

**Lady A:** Yeah yeah I know it's late. Thats' why we never say when were going to update because were both very bad with time lines. This chapter was bad when we first wrote it. We changed like major plot points over and over. And it was going to be two chapters combined because 3 was supposed to be a small filler but it didn't turn out like that did it? So it's good to know we already have like half of chapter 4 written right? Well I guess thats it for me.

**Rocket Girls:** winks at readers

**Lady A:** Oh god don't wink you look like your going into a coma!

**This is a shounen-ai/yaoi story. Don't like it? Don't read it. We Don't Own Kingdom hearts of the characters. All owned by Square Enix. 'Cept Hannah she's ours.  
**

* * *

Sora woke with a sense of dread hanging over him. Both Roxas and him tried to talk his mother out of inviting the two older boys to diner on Friday. They practically begged. But she was relentless in her good hostess skills. Both Riku and Axel were coming over and that was final. The only solace that the twins had was that Riku and Axel would have to suffer their mothers cooking. Speaking of his mothres cooking Sora could smell something delicious from down stairs. 

He grunted and rolled over. He had promised her that he'd he'd have a sensible breakfast this morning. Which would mean that she was _cooking._ Or rather, _trying_ to cook. _But then why does it smell so good?._ Abandoning his bed Sora made his way downstairs still in his PJ's. Surprised, and thankful, that it was Roxas at the stove and not his mother. Sora grunted his appreciation and Roxas understood. "No Fruit Loops this morning?" Sora asked, falling into a chair at the table. Roxas' eyebrows drew together in apparent disgruntlement. " What's that face for?" Sora continued to pry.

"Axel took them," he muttered into the frying pan.

"What? How, I didn't even know he had them," Sora replied.

"Neither did I, but who else would take them? I mean Namine doesn't eat sugary cereal, and Riku wasn't even near me!" Roxas seemed lost in thought for a long moment and Sora started to wonder whether the pancakes were going to burn. "Ah ha! He took them when I fell off the counter, I was so – distracted by falling he took the chance to take them!" Roxas raised the spatula in triumph. "Dirty little bugger…"

"Why the hell would he take your Fruit Loops?" Sora asked, now getting hungry.

"How should I know? All I know is that he's going to get it when I get to school today!" He stood with a hand on his hip and the other pointing the cooking tool directly at the stove.

"Roxas, the pancakes!" Sora cried.

"Oh damn!" He hissed, grabbing the handle of the frying pan and jerking it up so the pancake would flip. While the front side was golden brown, the opposite was completely black. He grimaced lightly and grabbed a plate from the cupboard, slipping the pancake hockey puck onto it and handing it to Sora.

"…" Sora stared at the 'food' in front of him, up at Roxas, then back at his plate.

"What?" He grunted.

"I'm not eating this Rox…" he said, poking it with a cautious finger.

"Why not?" The blond asked earnestly, a slight frown on his face.

"Hm. Maybe the fact that it's _burnt_?" Sora suggested a smiled.

"It's not _burnt._ It's…_toasted_," Roxas retaliated with his own grin, heading back to the stove and turning it off. "Besides, black has a taste Sora."

"But not a good one…" Sora mumbled into the supposed to be fluffy breakfast.

"What was that?" Roxas hissed.

"Nothing, nothing," the brunet reassured his brother. "You're not eating?" He asked, fetching a fork from the drawers along with the syrup. Roxas turned to his brother cheerily.

"Nah. Don't wanna risk it," he said rooting through the lazy susan for other breakfast. "Oh hey! We still have one of those tiny boxes of Corn Pops!" He exclaimed proudly, pulling out a small cereal box and tearing it open. "Well, it's not Fruit Loops. But it's still covered in sugar,"

"I wouldn't trust those Roxas," Sora noted, smothering his breakfast in liquid sugar.

"I wouldn't trust that either…" Roxas snorted, his cheeks full of Corn Pops. Sora took a dramatic breath and cut a small piece with his fork, stealing a sideways glance at Roxas before bravely putting it in his mouth. His eyes shut tight, he chewed harshly, gnawing on the elastic like food and hearing bits of it crunch. The blond covered his mouth as he tried to hold down laugh.

Sora shot up like a bullet and rushed over to the kitchen sink, spitting anything he had in his mouth and turning on the cold water. "Roxas! That was so gross," he told him with a disgusted look on his face, taking handfuls of the water and slurping from his hands. The blond just giggled and scooped up his bag from the doorway.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sora yelled after him, Roxas coughing out crumbs and racing out the front door, trailing behind him.

"School. Or else we'll be late again!" Roxas choked out, halfway down the driveway, looking back to see his brother at the doorway with a 'yeah-right' look on his face. Sora rolled his eyes and stalked easily back inside, but hurriedly glancing at the clock to see if his brother was right.

Which he was…

"Dammit!" He shouted in the empty house, rushing to the kitchen and dropping all his books and papers into the mouth of his backpack. Great, he'd be late _again…_

* * *

"Pop quiz!" 

A unanimous groan could be heard from Ms Rogers's first English class of the day. Sora banged his head on his desk in apparent defeat, his face still red from running the whole way to school, flopping into his seat just before _she_ came in. _She_ refers to the she-devil at the front of a class, a smile on her make up covered face as she instructed them in the routine of a pop quiz. She placed double sided papers down on each of the student's desks.

"There will be no talking during this quiz," she glared at Sora here. "No snickering or passing notes," this time at Tidus. "And there will be absolutely no daydreaming _or_ faking an illness. No one can leave the classroom until the quiz is over-"

"What if we have to go to the washroom?" Tidus asked honestly.

"Your perfectly capable of holding it until it's over," she smiled softly.

"But what if we need the washroom for _other_ needs…" the perverted blond suggested, and the class snickered.

"What other uses could there be for a washroom?" She replied; did she not catch his drift? "Now, number two pencils at the ready?"

"_Well, that certainly lost it's effect…"_ Tidus whispered to Wakka, causing the red head to smirk.

"And, you may now start,"

Sora stared at the sheet in his hands. Transitive verbs, proper uses of conjunctions and pronouns; he didn't know any of it. Where were the definitions Namine and he had studied? The brunet just held the pencil in his hand as his mind shut off completely, and if he really thought about it, he was sure his brain was ticking and tick and very close to blowing up. Spontaneous combustion was a valid reason for leaving the classroom, was it not? Hm, if only he could – no, blowing up would be _much _worse than failing another quiz.

Sora absentmindedly sucked on his bottom lip. Well hell, he might as well try right? _Well a verb is an action, and the root word looks like transit…and if that has anything to do with 'public transit' then it must be something like moving?_ He reasoned in his mind. _The subway is public transit right? But I don't think anyone can 'subway'._ Sora laughed to himself, trying to picture someone 'subwaying' themselves down the street. How would one 'subway' anyway? Maybe it was like a walk, but scooting both feet at the same time without moving your legs. _Okay, I'm getting off topic here_.

He narrowed his blue eyes at the sheets, forcing himself to focus. He could do this, he would just have to sneak at peek at Namine's paper for…leverage. He looked up to see Ms Rogers concentrating on grading some essay or something. He casually leaned back, stretching his body to see her paper, but it was impossible. She had it covered. Curse her. The blonde lifted her head and frowned, shaking her head. Sora pouted and held up two fingers.

She mouthed the word 'no' and returned to her quiz, unlike Sora who proceeded to star at the ceiling as if it held all the answers. He taped the eraser on his desk and frowned at the tiled roof. _Who tiles ceiling anyway? __**Tile**__ belongs on the __**floor**__. Where you can walk on it. In my world, there are no schools with tiled ceilings. In fact there are no schools. No schools, no quizzes. End of problem._ If only it really worked that way.

He sighed heavily and tore his eyes from the colourless roof, looking around the room to see a few classmates already finished. Sora looked down at his own paper, which was – blank. His lined paper had no answers on it, and compared to others who had words scribbled down that filled up almost the whole page, his seemed very…dull. _Seems? Sora, it __**is**__ dull…You haven't even __**tried**_

That wasn't true, he _was_ trying. He was just very _bad_ at it; that's all. He shook his head and turned over the page, deciding the first one was to tough to even half attempt anymore. _Definitions! There you are!_ He never thought he'd be so thankful to see that word ever. Okay, he knew a few of these, and with Namine's help from last night, he was able to get a few more. He scribbled down answers quickly and sloppily since there was only about five minutes of class left. He had wasted the whole quiz daydreaming and wondering how people 'subwayed' their way to work. Sora snickered loudly and earned himself a glare from Ms Rogers and a few suspicious glances from Tidus and Namine.

Before he knew it, the bell rang and they had to hand in their papers. Sora walked out of the classroom with a grin on his face. Okay, so he might not have exactly _aced_ it. But he was sure he did a bit better with Namine's help and all.

"What are you so happy about?" Namine asked lightly, catching up to her friend.

"I knew some answers," he gloated, smirking at her.

"Good for you! So the studying helped?" She questioned.

"Yeah, it was," Sora said. "I don't think I got an 'a' though, maybe not even a 'b'. But I think I got better than my last mark… By the way, what's a transitive verb?"

"Uhm. Well, it means 'incomplete with an object'… So I guess it's like 'the shelf holds three books,'" she tried to put it in simplest terms.

"Oh!" Sora said surprisingly, and then laughed out loud, clutching his stomach. "Oh gosh, I almost wrote down 'subwaying'…" he told her in between laughs. Namine raised her eyebrows and shook her head; she didn't want to know.

"Do you think it'll be better then your thirty four?" Namine inquired innocently.

"Well… maybe not a whole lot better maybe a forty." Sora finished.

"But that still not a passing grade Sora." Sora sighed, and he was feeling so good about this one too.

* * *

Roxas walked out of the school, heading for the community centre. He had a spare today and was spending it volunteering. He watched as other students hurried to their classes, already late. Turning a sharp right, on the path he was confronted with the sight of three tall men. One of them could easily be mistaken for a girl, another with blue hair. The last, the only one that Roxas recognised, had a toque on as usual. The three were smoking, and had failed to notice Roxas' intrusion on their hiding place. Thoughts came rushing into Roxas' head. _Oh no, they're going to hurt me. Wait, are they smoking? Is that allowed? Hey, Axel has my Fruit Loops! That guy with the scar looks seriously disturbed. Maybe I'll just ask about it later. _Roxas decided it was best if he let the three alone and turned around to take the long way to the centre. He knew it would take longer but it was better than getting 'roughed up'. He thought he had got away until he heard light footsteps behind him. He turned around to see Axel grinning at him. 

"What do you want?", Roxas asked angrily. He really wasn't in the mood for Axel especially since he had taken his Fruit Loops.

"Oh just came by to say hi, and wanted to tell you how nice your mom is." Axel continued to grin as he fell into step beside the younger boy.

"If your going to make 'your mom' jokes please don't I get enough of those from Demyx."

"Yeah he's the kinda guy who won't let that kind of thing go." Axel chuckled as he said this. Taking another drag from his cigarette. Roxas scrunched up his nose at the sight of it.

"Why do you do that?" he asked looking at the smoke.

"Do what? Smoke?" Axel asked.

"Duh," Roxas replied rolling his eyes. "You obviously know it's bad."

"Yeah 'duh' I do. Just started when I was a kid, and never bothered to stop. Does it bother you?"

"No, not particularly, it's just bad for you that's all."

"Well if you're so concerned for my well being I'll put it out." Axel threw the rest of the cigarette onto the ground and stepped it out. Pulling his backpack from over his shoulder he started to rummage through it.

"What are you looking for now?" Roxas asked generally curious.

"Oh something to snack on instead of smoking." Axel pulled a Ziplock bag out of his backpack and Roxas' eyes widened.

"Hey! Those are mine!" Roxas yelled pointing to the bag, which were full of Fruit loops. _His_ Fruit Loops.

"Oh?" Was all Axel asked, raising a slender eyebrow.

"Don't 'oh?' me!" Roxas yelled a little louder this time. "You _know_ that those are mine." Axel put his hand back into the bag and started to munch on the dry cereal. Roxas made a grab for the bag but Axel was much quicker and lifted it above the boy's head. Grumbling Roxas jumped, but still couldn't reach it. Now standing directly in front of the taller male, he watched as Axel started finishing the loops in his hands. Roxas put his hands on his hips. _This guy is infuriating_ Roxas thought to himself.

Axel began to chuckle as he saw the frustration level on Roxas face rise. _He's gunna blow his top soon, well maybe I can push him a little farther_. "C'mon Roxas, is that all you got?" Axel strode past the blond, bag still high in the air.

Uhg, this is not going well. And I'll be late if I don't hurry up! "I don't have time for this!" Muttered Roxas and he was about to give up entirely, I mean he could always get more Fruit Loops, right? However, just as Roxas was stalking past the taller boy he made a final leap for the bag. He missed, but his hand latched onto something woolly. Roxas fell onto the ground hard. He sat up and rubbed his back. That wasn't smart. 

"Hey Kid, you wanna give me that back?" Roxas looked up from his position on the ground, looking at someone who was most definitely wasn't there before. Vibrant red hair filled his vision; it was wild, sticking up in several different directions, the sun tinting the ends of it orange. Awe struck, Roxas stared at the boy; there was no way that that was natural. A familiar voice interrupted his thoughts. Axel was still standing there, looking rather uncomfortable.

"You gunna give me my hat back? You can have the bag, fair trade, 'kay?" Roxas watched as Axel shifted his weight from one foot to the other, turning his head this way and that, glancing over his shoulder. _He's really uncomfortable_ Roxas noted silently before pulling himself to his feet. Roxas extended the hand that still held that toque to Axel. It was quickly snatched up and replaced with his precious bag of half eaten cereal. Roxas watched as Axel quickly tucked his wild red locks under his hat, making sure none of it was sneaking out. Sighing with relief Axel stuffed his hands into his jacket and began to walk away.

"HEY WAIT" Roxas jogged to catch up to him, still surprised to see Axel so self conscious.

"What?" Axel snapped. "You gunna say something smart ass about my hair now?" He was angry, Roxas shied away a little.

"Why would I? It's pretty…" the words left Roxas lips before he could stop them. The ground suddenly became very interesting, his face heating up. It was Axel's turn to blush, but thankfully the boys attention was on his shoes.

"Oh," was all Axel managed.

"Is that why you wear the toque… because of your hair?" Axel paused for a moment. What was the harm in telling the kid? He seemed nice enough.

"Mostly," Axel finally answered." But I'm still always cold, so it worked out. Anyway enough of this heart to heart crap. Where were you headed?" Roxas was a little disappointed at the change of subject but didn't push it.

"Oh I usually volunteer on the days I have spares,"

"Community hours." Axel suggested.

"It was but I just liked it a lot so I kept it up." Roxas finished shyly.

"Weirdo," Axel said with a chuckle. " Where do you volunteer?"

"Oh a few places around town, but today it's the Community Centre." Axel nodded he could see the Centre from where he was walking, but he had other places to be. Roxas could see it too and was a little disappointed. _Wait what? Why am I disappointed? This guy took my Fruit Loops! _But Roxas couldn't bring himself to be angry anymore. Not after seeing Axel so unnerved.

"Oh hey! I still have the rest of your Loops at my place, you can come by tomorrow and get them."

"I'm sure I can get another box, don't worry about it."

"Oh Hey! No way," Axel waved a hand in the air, "You got a pen?" Roxas rummaged around in his pockets for the marker he kept with him. Producing it with a grin on his face Axel took it from him. Rolling the boys sleeve up he turned his arm to face him. Holding his wrist Roxas could feel how cold he was through the fabric of his gloves. Axel finished writing his address in girly writing, and what appeared to be his number. "My cell," Axel explained, "Just in case."

"In case of what?" Roxas asked.

"You never know," Axel shrugged handing the marker back to Roxas. " Anyway, I have to shove off, things to do people to," Axel grinned, "do." Roxas frowned but kept his mouth shut. "Later Rox," Axel said as he turned back the way they had come. Roxas made his way to the community centre, not quite as concerned about being late as he was before.

* * *

Sora's head was about to make a very big dent in his kitchen table. Seeing as it was solid wood, that made it ever more impressive. "Sora you're just killing brain cells, you won't remember anything that way." 

"Nam why does it matter, you saw that quiz today. I knew nothing on it. Can you honestly tell me I passed?" Sora raised his head and looked at her sternly. Namine bit her lip. No she couldn't. "Please Nam we've already been though half of the 'c's that's two letters! My brain is full!" Sora knew very well this wasn't true but he didn't feel like being taught tonight, much alone being with anyone. He just wanted to sulk. Namine looked frustrated as well. Her usually well-kept hair was frizzy and her face was flushed. Was it anger or exhaustion, Sora didn't know. "Look Nam just head home and get some rest. It doesn't matter how much I study tonight, it won't change the grade on the test tomorrow. Namine sighed but packed up her books regardless.

"Look Sora, please study tonight even if you don't think it'll do you any good. You'll retain something." Sora agreed and helped Namine with her books. He walked to the door and waved her off. Sora walked back into the kitchen and stared at his study books. Namine had left the 'mini-dictionary'. Sora grabbed the blue book and made his way to his room. He'd study if only for Namine and the lack of anything better to do. But his heart wasn't in it and he knew that. He turned on the light at his desk and absorbed himself in his 'studying'. He was so caught up that he didn't register that his twin had entered his bedroom. Sora was mumbling something about extraditing when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around quickly to see a muddy Roxas grinning at him.

"Good to see you're studying bro."

"Trying is more like it," Sora mumbled still not in the mood for company even if it was his brother. Roxas must have caught the vibe because he theft with a quick "at least you're trying'. Not before grabbing a pen from Sora's desk. Sora looked back at the book to find his concentration lost. Giving up he turned off his lamp and fell onto his bed. Maybe he'd wake up with all the answers.

* * *

Sora was up before his brother, which was unusual. He had made his way downstairs early in the morning, finding his mother heading off to work. "Didn't see you much last night Hun. Feeling okay?" 

"'Fine," Sora muttered, half asleep.

"Oh, well that's reassuring," she said sarcastically. "What's wrong?"

"Same as usual," Sora sighed into his arms. Resting his head on the table, he closed his eyes.

"Another test then?" she guessed.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I failed this one too,"

"Did you try though?" His mother asked gently, moving a chair to sit beside her son. She patted his back lovingly and Sora relaxed a little.

"I tried more than usual," he said honestly. "I just get so distracted when I try to do anything,"

"Anything Sora?" His mother questioned. "I don't think your giving yourself enough credit," she continued, "Remember when you and Namine won last years Science fair?" Sora perked up a bit, it was true. At least he was good at something. He'd worked hard on that project, both Namine and him had. They had stayed up late to make it perfect.

"Yeah,"

"It's just English hun, you have to work harder at it."

"But I've tried all year." He complained. Sora had been trying since the beginning of grade nine, he had barely passed English in middle school. He had good intentions of studying but it never actually worked out, and he gave up after his first failed test.

"Well that's all I've ever asked for," she said, and headed to the cupboard for a granola bar. Sora sighed he knew she must be at least a little disappointed in him.

"I'm off hun," she smiled, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before swinging her purse over her shoulder.

"Alright Mom," Sora replied half-heartedly. "I love you, have a good day at work,"

"I will," she called back and shut the front door. Sora looked at the clock, the hands ticking away the minutes. _Seven thirty_ Sora thought, _way to early. _The brunet sat at the kitchen table for what seemed like hours, half asleep. Staring at the half-empty cup of coffee that was presumably his mothers. At least this way, he wouldn't be late right? He'd be just in time to see his failed mark in angry red ink.

"Hey Sora,"

"G'mornin' Axel," Sora grunted, lifting his eyes to rest upon the boy now helping himself to a cup of coffee. _Wait, what?_ "Axel, what are you doing here?" Sora asked slowly.

"Oh," Axel turned to him before adding sugar to the rainbow mug he had found. The cup had 'mom' written on it in childish handwriting. One, two three – _four_ spoonfuls. "Thought that Roxas might want his breakfast," he shook the box and placed it on the counter.

"How'd you get in?" Sora further pestered him.

"Met Mom on the way," he said, taking a seat across from Sora, reaching into his forest green jacket. He pulled out a ring of keys that were the decorated with charms and the like. There were a lot of them. Sora dismissed the fact that Axel had talked about Hannah with such an affectionate nickname.

"She gave you the keys to our house?" Sora asked. Axel nodded, putting the keys back into his pocket.

"Why?"

"Dunno," Axel shrugged, wrapping his gloved hands around the steaming cup of coffee. "Is it cold in here, or is it just me?" He said and sucked air in through his teeth. Sora raised an eyebrow as a shiver racked the others body.

"It's just you," the brunet nodded at him.

"Dontchya wish your girlfriend was hot like me, dontchya wish your girlfr-" the pair heard Roxas' voice fill the kitchen as he padded his way down the stairs and stopped in the doorway. His mouth was open, eyes glues to the toqued boy, a pair of blue drawstring pyjama pants hanging off his hips.

"Pinch me, I better be dreaming," he grumbled, putting his hand to his forehead and making his way past Axel who happily obliged, pinching his bare stomach with a smirk. Roxas hissed and swatted at the red heads hand. "What's he doing here Sora?" The blonde grumbled angrily. His twin opened his mouth to answer, but Axel beat him to it.

"Good morning to you too, buddy!" Axel chided cheerily. "What happened to your singing?"

"He brought back your Fruit Loops," Sora interjected as Roxas glared at the grinning redhead. But his mood lifted significantly when he heard his cereal had returned.

"Hey, thanks a lot," he said and snatched the box from the counter. "It's full," he noted.

"Yeah, new box. I finished the other one this morning," Axel laughed, taking another large gulp of coffee.

"That's nice," Roxas sighed happily, the 'tings' of the cereal against the bowl obviously distracting him.

"No problem Roxas," he replied, shivering once more and taking another sip off his coffee. Roxas sat himself beside Axel, a large bowl of cereal in front of him. "You gunna eat all that?" He stared at the bowl incredulously. This time Sora spoke.

"Are you kidding me? Roxas is a human vacuum,"

"Am not," the blond protested. His brother snorted.

"Liar," Sora stuck his tongue out at Roxas who in turn just rolled his eyes and stuck his spoon in his cereal. Axel stood, the chair screeching against the tiled floor as he made his way back to the coffee machine, refilling his empty mug. By the time he sat back down and folded his legs neatly in the Indian style, Roxas was halfway done.

"Holy smokes, I see what you mean Sora," Axel laughed at Roxas and lapped at his drink. The blond's only response was a low growl in which the other just snickered at.

Sora smiled, yawned and helped himself to his feet, heading for the open box of Fruit Loops. Roxas grumbled and snatched the nearest thing he could – an empty plastic cup – and threw it at his brother. "Ack! Roxas," Sora whined, rubbing the back of his head. Instead he opened the lazy susan to look for the breakfast bars.

"Pretty territorial about them Fruit Loops aren't you?" Axel asked, more so stating. The blond drank the rest of his milk and licked his lips.

"I love Fruit Loops," he sighed ad smiled, and got up to put his empty bowl in the sink. "Sora, it's eight o'clock,"

"Relax, we're not going to be late this time," Sora calmed his brother. "C'mon, let's go get ready,"

"Yeah, can't go to school half naked," Roxas yawned.

"Sure you can," Axel said suggestively, earning himself a scowl from the blond.

When Sora and Roxas had made their way back downstairs Axel had already left, his coffee mug in the sink. Roxas shrugged as they both grabbed their backpacks and headed off to school.

* * *

Rocket Girls : So what did ya think? Not quite as long as the other chapters, but it was pretty fun to write for Lady A and I. There was alot of 'coffee dumping' and 'tuck tucking'... 

Lady A: We both wish we could make a gif. of Axel tuck tucking...

Rocket Girls: Yeah, if you wanna see something really silly? Go to our profile to see an 'insiders photo' of our chapters in progress. (Before Editing and some writers block)

ajhfkjdhfd, thanks so much for reviews guys! It means alot to us and we hope we've replied to everyone so far. If not, we still love you.

Oh yeah, and the chapter name contest is still up and running! yayyy!

so you've read, and you can review now. YAYY!


	4. If You Are Then You Think To Much

**AN-**

**Lady A: **Oh man. You guys rule so much! At first I was like woooah we got reviews? And then I was wooah we got some faves? And then all the Alerts! I think I fainted a little bit. I always called RocketGirls when we got a review we'd read them together and reply. However I may have missed a few of you. I apologise so much! We get distracted and we forget. I will try to be more diligent! On a lighter note. This chapter rules! No really. There isn;t too much Axel Roxas in this one cause people were like "where's Riku"? after the last chapter. ooh rambling is long. We love you guys lots. Thanks so much!

**We do not own Kingdom Hearts or the Characters. Cept' Hannah.**

**This is a yaoi story. Don't like it don't read it.**

* * *

"_Thirty two_?" Sora groaned to Namine. "How could I get _worse_?" 

"Sora," Namine sighed disconcertingly. "Were you actually _trying_?"

"Of course," the brunet protested. He had tried to concentrate, hard. But that stupid 'subwaying' got in his way… "Namine, I'm going to have to just re-take English!"

"No you won't. We'll just study extra hard tonight!" She suggested, a smile on her face. It really didn't matter how hard Sora kept studying he was sure that he was going to fail it anyway.

"Yeah…" he agreed just to make her happy. She'd come over that night anyway, even if he told her he'd given up. He stuffed his test into his binder and prepared for another fun filled English class of zoning in and out of the lessons. Tidus would occasionally crack a joke, the class falling into a fit of laughter before Ms Rogers would glare at them. It was an uneventful lesson for the brunet, and he found himself purposely trying to distract himself…

And then the bell rang; his saving grace. He packed up his stuff quickly and attempted to get out first, but a rush of kids whizzed past him and he was the last one left. His shoes scuffed against the floor with an echo in the empty classroom and he tried to slip out unnoticed by Ms Rogers.

"Sora." Her voice sounded, and Sora winced with a hand on the doorframe.

"Yes Ms Rogers?" He asked sheepishly as if he had no clue to what she was going to say, and turned around. The look on her face could have _killed _Sora. She didn't look angry or sad or anything like that. Her eyebrows were drawn into a slight scowl, brown eyes on him intently as her off pink lips tugged into a small frown.

"Your grades have proceeded to fall, Sora," she noted, and Sora looked at his shoes, embarrassed. He knew that. Everyone in the _class_ knew that Sora was failing.

"Yeah, I-I know," he responded dumbly.

"But then again, your brother _and_ your mother have repeatedly told me that you've been studying," Ms Rogers had that special skill to make you feel like the smallest person in the world. Not intentionally, but she could do it.

"I have," Sora looked up and bit his bottom lip, this was nerve racking. What was she going to do? Automatically fail him?

"So, what's wrong?" She asked and her eyebrows raised.

"W-well. Any time I start studying I get distracted by one thing or another – and the next thing I know I'm asleep or I've wasted to much time daydreaming…" he said honestly. "But Namine's been a _big _help. It may not show it on this test, but I know the meaning of a bunch of new words!"

"That's great and all Sora, but I can't grade you on what you tell me. These pop quizzes are really important, and at the rate your going I'm going to have to fai-"

"No!" Sora protested, cutting her off. "Please, Namine's been _really_ helpful Ms Rogers! Just a few more weeks and I'm sure my marks will shoot right up," Ms Rogers frowned deeply.

"Sora-" she tried.

"Ms Rogers, _please_. Just let Namine keep teaching me, and I'll get right back on track," he pleaded. Really, did Sora have _any_ chance to win this? Ms Rogers had made up her mind; Sora would have to repeat tenth grade English…

"You didn't let me finish," she sighed. Sora perked up and flushed.

"Oh, sorry…" he muttered.

"That's alright. I understand that you must have been flustered – thinking I was going to fail you on the spot," she laughed lightly. _Did she just __**laugh**_ Sora's mind resounded. "But I'm not. I've assigned you a tutor,"

"But what about Namine?" He asked.

"Namine has been aiding you Sora, but I'm afraid that she also has other assignments to worry about," his teacher informed him.

"Oh, right. Yeah, I guess she does,"

"So I've found a senior student to agree to tutor you after school in English," she smiled happily.

"Really? Who is it?" Sora questioned. Maybe it was Demyx – was he good at English? Or his brother, maybe Kairi. There were so many different people who could help him.

"Well, I won't spoil the fun for you. But you'll find out tonight," she said like a little girl and Sora stared. She sounded kind of like his mom for a minute there. He shook his head and grinned, heading out the door to his next class.

* * *

"Uhg, no way!" Demyx groaned, waving his hand over the burnt chocolate chip cookies. Home economics was not his best subject. 

"Demyx, what did you do this time?" Mr. Strife sighed and made his way over to where the three had been stationed.

"He burnt our assignment again!" Kairi complained, and Roxas rolled his eyes.

"Well if you weren't so afraid of the stove Kai then we wouldn't have had to make Demyx do it."

"Well why can't you do it Roxas?" Demyx asked, pulling the now charcoal cookies from the oven.

"Because," Mr Strife interjected, "he's been doing it all year, everyone has to learn everything Demyx."

"Oh right." Mumbled Demyx walking over to the garbage bin with the pan off cookies. Roxas glanced at the clock.

"We've got twenty minutes left, can we restart?" Roxas questioned, looking at Kairi and Mr. Strife.

"I suppose so, if you rushed and made a small batch," Mr. Strife shrugged. "You seem to have some batter left anyway." He departed from their station, leaving Roxas to hand out their jobs.

"Okay Kairi, you roll out the cookies okay? I'll watch the oven when you put them in, and Demyx." Demyx looked up hopefully as he heard his name spoken "Just stand there and look pretty". Demyx frowned at his friend, but he understood, he always tended to ruin projects.

When Roxas pulled out the golden brown cookies with a grin of satisfaction ion his face, they only had three minutes left. Mr. Strife, came over to inspect their finished product. He hummed and hawed before picking up a cooking and chomping down on it.

"Shweet" he said, as he stuffed the rest of the small cookie into his mouth. "You pass," he said finally swallowing the rest of the cookie. Before Roxas could thank him the bell rang and his teacher bellowed that they all must leave him with the baked goods before he took the metre stick to them. Demyx took a little to long gathering his books and was prodded in the back by an impatient Cloud, meter stick in hand.

"That guy has some serious cookie issues," Demyx said rubbing his back.

"Well maybe if you didn't bake an entire package of guitar picks into a batch of muffins he'd like you a little more." Kairi interjected.

"It's not _my_ fault the package fell into the batter!"

"Yes it was," Roxas frowned remembering that ruined assignment. "You opened them to show all of us. How you didn't notice they had fallen in is what always gets me."

"I told you," Demyx grumbled "That crazy eye-patched vice principal was leering at me again! It freaks me out!"

"Oh be quiet you two. Roxas we have a game tonight right?" she asked.

"Yeah we better go get ready eh?" Roxas turned around he was heading to his locker to get his books and head home he completely forgot about the game. The entered the gym to find a few of their team mates already ready and running drills. Kairi headed into the girl locker room Roxas and Demyx into the boys.

* * *

"You're late, you three," Cid scolded. "Now go practice yer sets…the game starts in about five minutes." 

The trio grabbed a spare ball and with Kairi as the setter it worked out fine. Demyx threw the ball to himself and volleyed it to Kairi, she passing it high to Roxas who would jump and spike it down. It seemed they didn't really get anywhere when the whistle sounded and the team huddled around the bench, Cid holding a pad of paper.

"Okay, Roxas, your gunna start at front center, Kairi to your left and Demyx in front of the server, which will be Hayner," the blond snickered confidently before Cid continued. "Olette, you're middle back, and the last spot is for you Pence,"

"Sweet," he grunted.

The game was tied, and every player was tired. One game for Destiny High and one for Oblivion Private School. Twenty four for the Destiny Chocobos, and twenty three for the Ceberus'. This was the deciding point, and Pence was the server. Everything was silent and Pence bounced the ball nervously, Roxas impatiently holding out his hand to Demyx. He watched as the server threw the ball in the air as soon as he heard contact, Demyx and himself slapped hands yelling, "switch!"

Roxas was now on the frontlines with Hayner and Olette, watching as a cocky blond smirked and bumped the ball. A slender silver haired girl then volleyed it to a bulky and muscular boy who grinned before jumping and spiking the ball into the middle of the court. Roxas glanced to Kairi who dove for the ball from her spot, sliding on her knees to bump it back to a good height.

"Set!" Hayner called, volleying it to Roxas who spiked it perfectly. However, he growled when it was blocked by a tall chubby guy he had heard his team mates yell 'Pete!' at. Demyx bumped it up perfectly, and Roxas was able to volley it backwards to the Ceberus. How long could this rally last?

After another muscular light brown haired boy nearly hit Hayner in the face (which was recovered smoothly by a diving Kairi), the blond was determined to win it now. Olette sent the ball over one more time, the girl with silver hair bumping back, obviously forgetting to set.

Demyx volleyed it to an angry Hayner who growled smugly before passing it up higher for Roxas. The blond crouched before making a leap, bringing his arm down harshly and returning the favour to the muscular brunet – hitting him square in the face. Oblivion wasn't able to recover, and the Chocobo's got the last point.

A cheer resounded from Destiny High's co-ed volleyball team, Olette forcing them all into a large group hug. Sticky and sweaty limbs ran around necks and waists, and nobody chanted because they were all to busy panting. They broke quickly and lined up on their side of the net to shake hands with the Ceberus, although they didn't really want to (they were twice the size of them and were glaring daggers). Roxas led his team in a good show of sportsmanship, smiling and saying things like "nice play".

"You made Lexeaus nose bleed, ya?" He grunted at the blond, nodding behind him. Roxas flushed, oh god, this was going to come back to haunt him wasn't it? _I really don't want this 'Lexeaus' to come after me or something… _A few more shakes and fake "good games" and they reached the last opponent - face to face with the boy he had injured. Rather, face to chest- Roxas was at least a foot shorter then him, now he got a good look. Demyx visibly froze and he saw his eyes squint, as if he was trying to recognise him.

"Uhm – sorry. About your nose," Roxas apologised, maybe he won't get a punch in the face now. Oh god, he looked really mean.

"Nah! Don't worry about it," Lexeaus shrugged off, adjusting the toilet paper nose plug in his nostrils. "It was a nice spike and I'm use to it by now, I'm sorry about nearly breaking your buddy's nose!"

"Yeah you better be you son-" Hayner started from behind Demyx before he was slapped in the back of his head by an upset Olette.

"I'm sure he's alright," Roxas laughed, looking back to see Hayner's face scrunched up.

"Wait, you're _Lexeaus_?" Demyx asked and everyone looked at him. Lexeaus nodded. "Lexeaus…" he mused, "Gant?" The brunet nodded again, his eyebrows drawn.

"Buddy!" Demyx laughed, ducking under the net.

"Do I know you?" Lexeaus asked.

"It's Demyx. Demyx Anderson?" Lexeaus eyes widened a little and a smile played on his face.

"Demyx!" He cried, pulling him into a friendly hug, but nearly killing the small brunet in process. "Good to see you again, how've you been?"

"Not to bad, got myself into a band now," he gloated and smiled.

"That's good, I'll have to come see you guys play so-"

"Wait, hold on," Roxas interrupted, shaking his head confusedly. Hayner, Olette, Kairi and himself had all exchanged looks before Roxas had stopped their chit chat. "How do you know eachother?"

"Oh. Lexeaus was a neighbour," Demyx informed them. "Yeah, we used to run around the streets like wildmen-"

"-you still do," Hayner grunted with a snort, and received a glare. Demyx continued despite the insult.

"But then I moved across town. And that was what – when we were six, seven? Something like that. We just – never stayed in contact," the brunet shrugged. "So what have you been doing Lex, benching _elephants?_" He laughed and Roxas shook his head, looking to his watch.

"Oh no, I gotta go," Roxas told them, giving them all a slight wave before setting off to the locker room.

"Alright, see ya later Roxas," they chanted, and he vaguely heard Demyx introduce Lexeaus to Olette, Hayner and Kairi.

He had completely forgotten Axel was coming for dinner tonight, he probably already brainwashed his mother! He pulled on his jeans quickly, stuffing his gym clothes and kneepads into his locker. Roxas threw his backpack over his shoulder hurriedly left the locker room, rushing through the school halls and bursting out the front doors. Not that he hated Axel, he was just so…so…_impossible_. He took his Fruit Loops after all.

_Yeah, but he bought me a new box,_ his mind grunted and Roxas frowned, skipping over the flowers and running down the sidewalk.

* * *

Roxas managed to stifle an unholy scream at what he saw in his kitchen. Not only was Axel in his kitchen but he was in an _apron_. "What are you doing here already?" he managed as Axel checked a ham in the oven..Hannah came gliding from behind Roxas with an answer. 

"He came home with Sora and offered help with dinner. Riku should be along shortly."

"Where's Sora?" Roxas grunted.

"Upstairs, calling Namine,"

Roxas's mom busied herself beside Axel as she hummed the lyrics to some old song she knew. Roxas shook his head and made his way upstairs, he was going to change clothes, and maybe when he got back all would be right with the world.

* * *

Sora had called Namine, and invited her over for diner as well. It was only fair, he'd need some sort of emotional anchor if he was going to be dealing with Riku all night. He felt a little for Roxas who couldn't seem to get a hold of Demyx or Kairi after the game. She had come over straight away and Sora had thought it was just because she was a concerned friend. But she had ulterior motives, she had brought her books as well. 

"If I'm going to be here Sora," she spoke authoritatively, " were going to do some work." So Sora had spent the last hour cramming all the words that started with 'e'. Sora had managed to get through all of those and they had started on the 'f's when he heard his mother calling from downstairs. That meant that diner must be ready. Namine picked up all her study notes and made their way downstairs.

"The front door Sora, you're wanted there." His mother was putting what he assumed was glaze on something that he hoped was a ham as she spoke to him.

"Okay Mom thanks." Sora said closing the door as his brother cried out for help. _Must be the tutor_, Sora thought wistfully. Namine following close behind, Sora made his was to the front door. Mentally crossing his fingers he opened to door, and his eyes fell on a flat chest. A well-defined but _very_ flat chest.

"Riku?" Namine questioned, which was exactly what Sora was thinking. _This can't be right, I'm supposed to be tutored by a hot guy and we fall desperately in love and have a hot passionate affair!_ He couldn't have a hot passionate affair with Riku, Riku was straight. _Wait, because he's so gross. That's why. _Sora was still staring open mouthed at Riku when his mother showed up behind Namine.

"Come in Riku, diner is almost ready." Sora visibly relaxed as Riku pushed past him and Hannah returned to the kitchen. _He's here for diner; my tutor must be coming by later._ Sora shut the door and turned to face the pair. Riku was halfway through removing his shoes when they heard the smoke alarm going off. Riku looked up at Namine who gave him a reassuring smile. Although it faltered a bit when screaming started to come from the kitchen. Sora slyly smiled.

"Bon Appetite" he said, and made his way back to the kitchen.

The kitchen could only be described as a war zone. Smoke was billowing from the stove, Axel, who had removed his striped scarf, was atop a chair and was waving at the alarm. Roxas was unsuccessfully attempting to open the kitchen window above the sink, only resulting in soaking his left leg in dishwater. His mom, Sora noted, was now sobbing over her burnt diner, which was nothing more than a smouldering mass. Riku and Namine who had both made their way into the kitchen stared as well. Riku however made his way over to Axel. The redhead abandoned his waving duty as he leaned down to listen to what Riku said to him. Sora couldn't hear over the incessant bleeping of the alarm, but whatever it was Axel agreed and handed Riku his cell phone. Riku quickly exited the kitchen, phone in hand. Sora was about to follow, curious as to what Riku would need the phone for, now of all times, when he was called over by Axel.

"Take this would ya?" Sora was handed Axel's black and white scarf. Axel lowered himself from the chair and placed Sora on it. Pointing from the scarf to the alarm. Sora got the message, and began to wave wildly at it. Sora watched as Axel took the would be ham from in front of Hannah and put it in the garbage. Hannah sat down at the kitchen table. The alarm had stopped blaring in his ear and so Sora dragged his chair over beside his mom. Roxas, who had squeezed most of the dishwater from his pants, sat on the other side of his mom.

"All I wanted was a nice diner," she sobbed. Sora's mom although blessed with baking skills had never been able to cook very well. It was usually Sora or Roxas who did the cooking,. Why she chose this night of all nights to start cooking again he'll never know.

"Don't worry mom" Sora reassured , "Roxas and I can whip something up real quick you'll see."

"Yeah," Roxas offered. " And Namine can help too!" Sora looked to Namine. His brother had just offered her up as kitchen help, but she didn't seem to mind.

"I'd love to help" she said quietly and made her way over to stand beside Sora.

"Oh you guys are so sweet." Hannah grabbed her two sons in hugs, before turning to Namine and saying, "you get in on this too." Hannah's arm found it's way around Namine's shoulder. The four of them were in a very awkward hug but it was loving and that's all that mattered. It was till loving still when Axel exclaimed he didn't like to feel left out and wrapped his arms around Roxas and Hannah.. Sora grinned as he saw his brother's cheek redden as Axel hugged a little closer to him. Sora was so caught up in the moment that he didn't even notice when Riku made his way back into the kitchen. Shrugging to himself Riku wrapped his arms around Namine and Sora. Sora felt Riku's arm brush against his cheek and he felt heat rising where he was touched. Sora knew that Roxas was probably seeing a mirror image of himself as well. After a few moments of comforting silence Namine spoke.

"Um Mom?" Namine asked.

"Yes?"

"My arm is going numb."

"Oh well then we should probably get out of this hug then. First Axel will have to remove his arms from around Roxas and I." Axel obliged.

"Besides", Axel spoke," the chinese should be getting here and minute."

Sora poked at the rice on his plate, he had eaten his fill, it seemed that he on auto pilot during dinner. Hannah began clearing the table, grabbing up Roxas's plate, followed by Axel's and her own. Riku, who seemed to have the urge to be polite, grabbed his own as well as Sora's and Namine's. Sora grunted in response, but was quickly silenced by a punch in the arm from the blonde, followed by a glower. _Geze, no need to get touchy,_ Sora thought. As much as Namine denied it, it was obvious to Sora that she had a thing for Riku and he 'oh-so' obviously returned the feeling. _Yeah well,_ he though thoroughly disgruntled. _He'd have feeling for the houseplant if it had breasts_

* * *

Sora grabbed the few leftovers and headed to the fridge. Closing the door, he saw his mother and Roxas starting dishes. Sora saw Riku and Namine chatting, and Axel flitting through the numbers on his cellphone. Sora was about to excuse himself when Axel flicked his mobile closed, a grin on his face. 

"Well, I'm off," he announced. "Thanks for dinner Mom!"

"Oh no, thank yourselves. You bought it; I'll make it up to you. If you happen to be in the neighbourhood tomorrow come on in and I'll give you something I baked, _not_ cooked." Axel's grin got even wider.

"Alright, I might pop by tomorrow sometime. Bye Roxas," Roxas grumbled into the sink, something that Sora assumed to be a farewell but could have very well been a curse.

"Wait Axel. Could I walk with you?" Namine spoke from where she was standing with Riku.

"Yeah sure, you don't live far from here do you?" Axel said. "Hey Riku, think you can drive us home?"

"I can't, gotta stay here," he shrugged.

"Wait, what?" Sora asked.

"Alright man, that's okay. I'll just walk Namine home," he offered. "Why are you staying anyway?"

"I'm helping Sora study. I'm his tutor."

"Wait, WHAT?"

"Oh, okay. Well have fun then," he said and ushered Namine out the of the kitchen door and they soon heard a dull thud of the front door closing.

"WAIT. WHAT?" Sora almost shouted this time, his face pale and eyes wide with surprise.

"Yeah, Ms Rogers told me you need help with English so…Here I am," Riku smiled maniacally and Sora's gut sunk _So much for a hot affair…_

Sora chose his room to study in, his books were already there and he didn't feel like dragging his books down to the kitchen. After grunting a goodbye towards his mother and brother he led Riku up to his room.

Sora grumbled as he sat down on his chair, Riku taking a comfortable seat on Sora's bed. The brunet swivelled his chair to face the silver haired other. "You have that blue book that Ms Rogers was talking about?"

"I asked Namine, but she said that you had kept it," Riku responded.

"Oh, right," Sora said, and filtered through pages of mindless doodles until he found the familiar blue book.

"Here," he said and threw it casually to him. While Riku read through the list Sora grabbed his definition list, a pen and a hard covered book to write on. Crossing his legs, Sora readied himself to write down anything he didn't answer correctly; which would most likely be a bundle of words. Riku's hair was falling in front of his face, the brunet watched as he unconsciously moved to tuck it behind his ear. _That's an awfully girly thing to do_ Sora thought. _Well if his stupid pretty hair wasn't so long…_

"So," Riku interrupted Sora's thoughts.

"So?" Sora echoed, unsure of what he was supposed to be doing. Was he supposed to recite definitions? Sora was feeling a little nervous all of the sudden. He felt the sudden desperation not to look stupid in front of Riku. Sora fidgeted awkwardly in his chair.

"Where did you leave off?" Riku asked, raising a slender eyebrow.

"Oh," Sora clued in and looked for the last word he had written down. " 'Flaccid',"

"Alright then, the next word is," He minded and looked down, once again putting his hair behind his ears "fluster,"

"Oh-oh..to be uhm," Sora paused, chewing his pen.

"Close Sora," Riku encouraged.

"To be nervous or embarrassed!" He explained a little to excitedly. Realising how ecstatic he just got, Sora found himself embarrassed, his cheeks turning a nice shade of pink. Riku only chuckled.

"Right, next word then,"

* * *

"So," Hannah extended her vowels like a child, scrubbing grime off a plate. "That 'Axel' is pretty nice," 

"Yeah…I guess so," Roxas shrugged, drying that glass cup with the checkered tea towel.

"Guess so?" His mother pushed. "He just bought dinner for six people!"

"Yeah, that was nice and all. But when I first met him, he was really creepy," he sighed, putting the glass into the cupboard above him. "And he took my Fruit Loops!"

"Is _that_ why you were so grumbly at the dinner table? He took your Fruit Loops?" Hannah mused, laughing lightly as her son grumbled.

"No! And I wasn't grumbling," he pouted, and his mother frowned.

"You hardly said a word sweetie, and when you did, it was usually a jab at poor Axel,"

"Mom" Roxas whined. "B-but-"

"I thought I raised you better than that Roxas," she sighed. "It wouldn't hurt you to be a little nicer to him, would it?"

"I'm _perfectly_ nice to him! You should've seen him yesterday, he was the one holding my Fruit Loops above my head," he informed her, trying to get himself out of trouble. "I had to jump to get them."

"You make it sound so … dare I say it – _flirtatious_?" She smirked and lifted the plug from the bottom of the sink. Roxas blushed profusely.

"It wasn't flirting…I just wanted them back," he mumbled, shaking a few plates dry before pulling the plug, letting the water drain out of his sink. "Why would I _flirt_ with _Axel_ anyway? First, he's a guy and second…" he rambled off. He didn't really care that Axel was a guy, he was just… a little bit creepy. That's all.

"Hush you," she laughed, throwing him a mock pointed glare. "All I'm saying is that you might flirt with him because he's – oh I don't know – funny, chivalrous, kindhe-" and she was off, paying the red head compliments that Roxas had to blush at. He had to admit he _was_ everything his mother was saying. "Nice build too, and-"

"Mom stop, before I start saying that he _is_ very good looking, but in that crazy 'I-know-what-you-did-last-summer' kind of way," Roxas tried to stop her, but only succeed in reddening his cheeks. He slapped a hand to his forehead and Hannah raised her eyebrow.

"What was that?" She giggled.

"Nothing, I didn't say _anything_," he said. _Stupid, stupid, __**stupid**__ Roxas…_

"No, I think you just said Axel was good looking!"

"No, I didn't, I said 'mom stop', then that was it," he protested. "Seriously mom, you're hearing things."

"Well, at _my_ age," she played along.

"Exactly," Roxas covered up with a nod. "Anyway, I'm gunna head upstairs," he said quickly and briskly left the kitchen, leaving Hannah to smile like a kid in a candy shop.

* * *

Sora was beyond annoyed now. They had only been at it an hour and it had happened thirty two times now. Sora watched as Riku bit the end of his pen and tucked a few stray strands of hair behind his ear. _Thirty-three!_ His mind yelled. Namine did the same thing with her hair, except she flipped it out after tucking it back. But somehow seeing Riku doing this utterly feminine thing was driving him insane. Why did it bother him so much?! He swore, if he saw him do it one more time… 

"Sora, I said 'garnish'." Sora rapidly searched his brain for the definition.

"Erm- isn't it like a radish?"

"Uhm, no," Riku shook his head. "It's to add to something."

"Oh," was all Sora managed. He went along with the task of writing it out. They had finished the 'f's and were slowly starting the 'g's. Sora was quite impressed with himself, he had only had to add about fifteen new words to his list. Mind you, he had been through thirty definitions by now. Sora looked up just in time to see Riku tucking his hair back once again. _There he goes!_

"Uhg," Sora said, uncrossing his legs and slamming his book on his desk. Opening the drawer in his desk, he searched for something he knew that Namine had left a while ago. Pulling out knick-knacks and throwing them on the floor, Riku could only ask, "What's wrong?" as Sora triumphantly pulled a hair tie from the drawer. It as orange with little papou charms. Admittedly not the most manly hair tie in the world, but Sora wasn't going to be the one wearing it. Without thinking, he closed the gap between himself and Riku. The brunet leaned down, gathering up his silver locks in his hands, making sure to get the loose ones in the front that were irritating him so much. Sora leaned closer over Riku so he could see what he was doing, his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth. With a snap, he managed to twist all of Riku's hair in a loose ponytail at the back of his neck.

And then he realised what he was doing…

Sora pulled back slowly, sitting back down in his chair and avoiding Riku's piercing aquamarine eyes. "S-sorry about that," he stammered sheepishly.

"S'okay," Riku shrugged it off with a coy smile on his face.

"So uhmm- where were we?"

"Oh right. You next word was" Riku continued to quiz Sora on the words from the book. Sora now solely focused on the definitions trying hard to ignore the fact that since Riku's hair had been pulled back into a makeshift pony tail, Sora began to realise just why Riku could charm so many girls. His slender eyebrows accented Riku's eyes and the smile he gave Sora when he had successfully defined a word was oddly attractive. _Not that I'd tell him that._ Once they had finished the 'g's it was already dark.

"I should get going" Riku stated as he closed the blue notebook. Sora who was still writing the last word he had unsuccessfully defined, looked up.

"Yeah okay, are you going to come by tomorrow?" Sora asked.

"Don't sound so hopeful Sora you'll get me thinking you actually like me." Sora frowned. He'd admit, this study session wasn't all that bad. They had even shared a few laughs. All in all Sora enjoyed it. "Well anyway I'll come by tomorrow, your mom mentioned baked goods and I can't pass that up."

"Yeah alright" Riku nodded at Sora's response and left the room his backpack hanging off his shoulder. Sora sighed and flopped down onto his bed. It was still warm from where Riku had been sitting. Sora smiled in spite of himself. He didn't know why he felt so giddy. Maybe it was at the prospect of having a new friend while getting rid of an old enemy. _That must be it_. Sora thought. As he drifted off to sleep Sora realised that Riku still had Namine's hair tie. He'd have to get it back from him tomorrow.

* * *

**AN**

RocketGirls - So, yeah. Chapter four was a riot to write. Sora getting tutored by a crate and everything. -cough- It made us laugh so much... Anyway, I bet your aching to click that reveiw button, right?

Right. So uhm, yeah. Reveiw please, it makes Lady A and I giddy. heheee

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	5. I Want To Wake Up Where You Are

**Lady A-** Hey I think some of you may be yelling? Woooah they're back? But were not sorry guys. We really wanted to have our computer right now, or by the end of this month, but alas, financial troubles arrived and now we have no clue when we'll be back up. However! Fanfiction must prevail above all. Neither sleet nor, hail , nor rain, nor- erm..cabbage?

**Rocket Girls-** Riiight

**Lady A-** Quiet you. Anyway we hope this uber-long chapter makes up for our lack of activity for a good month. It's got everything. RikuSor, AkuRoku, musical refrences, and one swear word. Oooo. And a little angst. And some background. This chapter got so long, we had to stop writing. We love writing on paper better it was almost 50 pages front and back, so we split it up. Never fear the next chapter will be up hopefully before the next month is over. But Lady A works alot. Halloween is a busy season, where I work. And Rocket is now back in school. I apologise for the crazy long AN, But I wanted to let you all know that we are not dead, and that we didn't give up. Enjoy!

* * *

Riku awoke groggy from his sleep. He rolled over in his bed to look at his clock through bleary eyes. It was early, that's all he could decipher from the red numbers. _Errrrg why can't I **ever**_ _sleep in on Saturdays? _Riku frowned, he hated Saturdays so much. He wasn't allowed to watch cartoons as a kid, his mother though they were too violent. So his weekend mornings were spent studying or practicing a new instrument his mother pushed onto him. It wasn't until a few years ago did Riku finally convinced his mother to let him get his own television so he could contentedly lie in bed until late in the afternoon. _Nothing good is on though._ Riku sat up and swung his legs over the side of his bed. His room wasn't overly large, but it was by no means cramped. Posters plastered the walls but the floors were devoid of any garbage or loose clothing. Something his mother had drilled into him. He shifted himself onto two feet and grabbed articles of clothing from his drawer. He threw on an outfit for the day before making his way downstairs. 

As he made his way over to the kitchen he heard a familiar high-toned voice, his mother. What he wasn't expecting was the low chuckle that followed. _Dad's home?_ He thought, and hurried his steps. Swinging the kitchen door open he found his mother seated firmly in his fathers lap, the newspaper gripped in his hands, eyes intent on the gray print. Although Marcy was obviously trying to correct that particular situation. Riku wondered whether he should leave them be, but his mother caught sight of him. Removing herself from her husbands lap she bustled over to the counter grabbing a fruit bowl. Placing it in front of her son, she tried her best to compose herself.

"Riku, your fathers home," she announced as if Riku hadn't already noticed. It wasn't often he got to see his father any more. A long time ago it was the three of them all the time. But Sephiroth's wise business decisions had gotten him promoted quickly in the oil industry, and now he was wanted everywhere at once. Riku understood it's what it took to keep his family in the manner they had grown accustomed too, he was grateful for it. He still wished that he had more time with his father however.

Sephiroth folded the paper and placed it on the table.

"Good morning Riku what are you up to today?" it was the greeting he had always said to Riku in the morning. Riku smiled at the familiarity.

"Well, I was going to tutor a friend today, but since your home I suppose I could call him and reschedule." Riku hoped Axel wouldn't be too disappointed in the fact that he wouldn't be going with him to Sora's house today. _Sora.. _

"Nonsense Riku, don't shirk your duties just because of unexpected plans. Besides I'm not here for long. I'll be leaving later this evening." Riku saw his mothers face fall, his heart sank along with it.

"But you just got here" he complained.

"I know, I know, don't fret though. The end of next month and I'll be on vacation. Just in time for your summer vacation as well, am I correct?" Riku's mood lightened.

"Yeah that sounds about right."

"Exactly." Riku couldn't argue with his father, not that he wanted to. Sephiroth was just one of those people that you couldn't argue with. A ringing from the room next to the kitchen interrupted Riku's thoughts.

"Riku could you get that?" his mother asked. Riku nodded as he got up from the chair walking into the dining room and picking up his mothers favorite antique phone.

"Hello?"

"Heeeeey, Ri." Riku rolled his eyes.

"Hey Ax. What do you want?" he responded dully.

"Don't be so harsh, I'm your best friend after all. I was calling to ask whether we were still going to Roxas's house today." Riku could tell Axel was on his cell phone, the patchy reception coupled with Axel's heavy breathing was making it hard for Riku to make out what he was saying.

"Yeah, I gotta help Sora study some more. Why? Aren't you coming?"

"No, no that's not it, I was just wondering whether you were ready or not." Riku looked down, he _was_ dressed but he hadn't brushed his teeth yet.

"Sorta."

"Did your mom get new flowers in the front?" Riku was caught off guard by the random question.

"Er, yeah why?"

"They're nice." Then Riku heard the doorbell ring. _Errg, Saturdays!_ "You going to answer the door or what Ri?"

"Shut- Just shut up." Riku bristled.

"Riku are you going to get the door?" his father bellowed from the kitchen. Riku rolled his eyes. Hanging up the phone with Axel still yelling on the other end, he waved to his parents as he made his way to the foyer. Opening the door to his best friend he wasn't surprised to see him still holding the cell phone to his ear.

"'Kay, gotta go. You showed up," he said, even though Riku had long since hung up on the other end.

"So, you gunna get ready or what?" Riku glared at his friend, but turned around regardless, heading back to his bedroom. Axel followed him, still expecting an answer. "Come on – tell mee," he whined, poking his friend in the back.

"Tell you what?" Riku asked from over his shoulder. As if he didn't already know what the redhead wanted. Axel rolled his eyes, obviously he was thinking the same thing.

"If you make me say it I'll yell loud enough for your mom to hear. Then you know what'll happen." Axel threatened. Riku stopped as he reached for the handle on his door. His mother would want to meet Sora, and then have _dinner_ with Sora and then go on _shopping_ trips with _Sora_. His mother had always taken an exceptionally special interest in Riku's love life, even when he made it quite clear he didn't like girls. His mother just seemed to like having another body to boss around.

"Ugh alright, I'll tell you but come in first." _Saturdays_. Axel glided past Riku, a smile on his face. Riku shut the door quietly as he frowned; his study session with Sora last night went okay. Better than he thought it would. From what Namine had told him Sora didn't think much of him. It was his own fault really. The girls before never bothered him, mainly because he never gave them a second glance. But Sora seemed to think he was some sort of playboy. He figured he had made pretty good headway last night. Sora hadn't once called him a jerk.

"Yo, Ri!" Axel said as he waved a hand in front of Riku's face.

"Wha-?" was Riku's response as he came out of his daze.

"What is it about that kid that's got you so worked up?" Axel asked plopping himself down beside Riku on his bed.

"Dunno," Riku shrugged, " it was earlier this year during winter when I saw him walking with Namine, he was laughing at something, and I-" Riku cut off embarrassed by his rambling.

"Dawww, Wiku gotsa cwuuush?" Axel teased, batting his eyelashes.

"Fuck off man" Riku punched Axel in the shoulder "What about you and Roxas?" he asked as he lay back down on his bed.

"I just like teasing him is all, nothing more." Riku snorted in disbelief. "Besides Ri…" Axel said slowly, as he turned his body so he was hovering inches above his unflinching friend. Axel straddled Riku's hips, and leaned down, his lips almost touching Riku's earlobe. "-I like my guys tall, with long silver locks." Axel's elbows rested on either side of Riku's head, which enabled his to twirl Riku's hair through his gloved fingers. Riku chuckled low in his throat.

"Oh Ax, you sure know how to turn a guy on." With out warning Riku quickly leaned up and gave Axel's neck a quick bite.

"Augh!" Axel leaped off Riku, "You better not have left a mark!" Axel rubbed the side of his neck.

"What afraid your boyfriend is going to see it?" Riku teased pushing himself onto his elbows. Axel glared at him and made his way over to Riku's only mirror.

"Yeah well you started it," he grumbled.

"Besides I win." Riku reminded. Satisfied that no mark had been left Axel grinned once again.

"Yeah yeah, I like the kid, so what?" Riku leaned over the other side of his bed and grabbed his backpack he had thrown there the previous night.

"Alright let's get going, we don't want to be late."

"Late for what?" The red head asked genuinely curious, looking at the clock beside Riku's bed; it only said 9:30.

Riku smirked. "Hannah's breakfast desserts of course." He saw Axel's face light up.

"Well that what are we waiting for let's go!" Axel rushed past Riku taking the stairs two at a time.

He stared after the red head, a moment ago you would gave sworn he was going to have his was with Riku. Now he was as distracted as ever. It had been that way ever since he had known Axel; mood swings galore. After all Axel was the one that had practically dragged him out of the closet. Not that he wasn't grateful for it, but Riku had to get used to the forward, but platonic, advances of his best friend. He had once asked Axel what he had meant by it all, Axel laughed and said it was his 'training'. Riku didn't press the issue after an answer like that.

Riku popped his head into the kitchen, to say goodbye to his father. However Sephiroth seemed to be tangled up in something that wasn't the sports page, and Riku decided it was best to leave them alone this time.

"Riku hurry the hell up!" Axel yelled from the door. "Cupcakes!" He paused, "_Hannah's _cupcakes." Another few moments of silence passed as Riku paused evilly. "_Sora!"_ Riku grinned; Saturday wasn't going to be all bad.

Riku tapped his pen on his knee as he watched Sora scribble down another word he had gotten wrong. When Axel and him had arrived they had had honey buns shoved into their hands. Hannah, who had decided Roxas and Axel needed to help her deliver cookies to an old age home across town, quickly took him away. That fact, had left Sora and Riku alone for the day. _Alone, uhh._ Riku rolled his eyes as several thoughts ran through his head, most of which involved Sora's ass _not_ in that chair…

Riku looked down at his book. _This sucks_. They were halfway through the 'g's, it seemed Sora had done some studying on his own.

"Riku, do you have a cell phone?" Sora interrupted Riku reading a definition, his eyebrows drawn together slightly.

"Yeah…why?" Riku kept his finger on the book, careful not to lose his place.

"Is the ring tone Goo Goo Dolls?" Sora further questioned.

"Yeah, how did you know?" The silver haired boy was slightly taken aback.

"Er…it's ringing…" Riku realized Sora was right and dug into his back jean pocket. He flipped it open.

"Hello? Okay...yeah – he's here…Sora, it's for you" Riku handed the small phone to Sora.

"Uhm, hi?" Sora took the phone from an equally confused Riku and immediately recognized the voice.

"Sora hunny, I have a favor to ask of you." She said happily. Sora could faintly hear the voices of his brother and Axel.

"Hi mom. How did you get this number?" Sora asked, ignoring her request.

"This is Axel's phone," she said as if Sora should already have known that.

"Oh…okay," Sora looked at Riku who was still obviously confused about how Hannah had gotten his number. Sora pointed to the phone and mouthed 'Axel'. Comprehension dawned on Riku's face, got up and started packing up his books. .

_"Mom! Axel hit me!"_

_"I did not, I tapped you! You're just a wuss!" _

_"I am not, you take that bac-armphh!" _

_"Oh my god Roxas, did you just **bite** me?! Hannah – your rabid son just bit me! Quick, to the hospital – I think he has rabies!" _Sora snickered, sounded like they were having fun.

"Oh, hush you two. Roxas, you _are _a wuss – and don't go biting your friends. And Axel – _stop_ sneaking cookies from the sick kids. You stole enough from the elderly!" Hannah was quick to the point.

_"Mom!" _

_"I was **not**! Roxas di-" _

"Now, be quiet, I'm on the phone to your brother. Sora, can you and Riku bake a cake?" She asked, completely unfazed by a groaning sound that was audibly Roxas.

"Wait – what?" Hannah sighed, exasperated.

"A _cake_ hunny – I won't have time to when I get home." Sora thought about it for a few seconds. They had been working since early this morning, and they really did need a break.

"Sure… what kind?" Sora asked.

"Chocolate, use the recipe I posted on the fridge this morning, 'kay?"

"Yeah okay," Sora replied. "Love you-good luck,"

_"Sora! Call the cop-!"_ Roxas had yelled, but Hannah shut off the phone too quickly. Sora hung up and handed the phone back to it's owner who had packed up the rest of the study notes. Riku looked at Sora and spoke.

"So, what are we doing?" He asked expectedly.

"Baking a cake," Sora sighed, waiting for the onslaught of excuses. _You have to study, _or _Baking!?_. Sora could hear it all now. His excuse to stop studying was going to be ruined…he knew it.

"Yeah,. Alright. Let's get going," Sora blinked, surprised at Riku's casual reply.

"That's it?" Sora asked incredulously.

"What's it?" Riku replied, already halfway too the door.

"Well- I don't know, I thought you were a strict schedule kinda guy," Sora said, making chopping motions with his hands. Riku laughed loudly and Sora flushed with embarrassment.

"There's a lot you don't know about me then," Riku chuckled and Sora could have sworn he saw a dark look pass over his face. In the next instant, Sora was pulled from his chair by a pair of strong arms and lead down the stairs.

"Oh my god," Sora stared at himself, a light blue apron covered his front, the large butterfly pocket glaring back at him. He was covered in flour, and he was _not_ happy. Riku had donned the only remotely 'manly' apron in the house. Although dark red – it still had little pink hearts on it. Even more infuriating was the fact that Riku stood flourless with a dictionary open his hands, as he quizzed Sora while he mixed batter.

"I _hate_ this apron!" Sora yelled. "I'm taking it off!" Sora started to tug at the bow that Riku had tied in the back, but was stopped by the silver haired boy snatching his wrist.

"Nuh-uh Sora. Not until we finish," Riku scolded. He let go of Sora's arms – which he folded defiantly across his chest, sticking his lower lip out in a pout. If this affected Riku, he didn't show it. "Besides," he said, turning around and waving his hand nonchalantly. "You'd be covered in a lot more flour if it wasn't for that pretty little apron."

It was true, the tips of Sora's hair were still white. Sora grunted as Riku looked over the card, which the recipe was printed neatly on. "So, we only need to add three eggs, right?" Riku asked, putting down the book and opening the carton to grab the eggs. Sora got there first – he was going to make up for his massive flour failure. _I'll show **him** who's mom's the baker._ Grabbing the first egg, Sora cracked it on the side of the counter. As he lifted the egg to break the shell apart, he realized his mistake. His heart sank as almost half the shell fell into the batter. Sora groaned and spent the next few minutes fishing out minute pieces of eggshell. Riku chuckled, and Sora glared at him.

"I'll get it this time," Sora stated, Riku continued chuckling. Sora cracked the next egg on the counter again, but this time a little too hard and the yolk spilled onto the counter. Thankfully, he had caught most of the drippings and scooped the rest into his hands. He poured the egg into the batter and once again spent the next few minutes attempting to get the eggshells out. Sora grumbled as he threw the shells out and stood glaring at the bowl. Sora reached for the last egg and his hand was slapped away.

"At this rate we'll never get done," Riku frowned and grabbed the egg, cracking it on the counter just as Sora had done – but this time more efficiently. Sora watched has he reached around him to lean closer to the bowl, pressing body against his own. Sora was uncomfortably aware at how close Riku was to him now, as his arms encircled him. Riku cracked the rest of the egg open and the brunet watched as it fell into the batter – shell free.

Then Sora felt a pair of soft lips on his cheek. He could have imagined it – it was so quick. But when Sora look up at Riku, who had removed his arms from around him he noted a familiar white powder on his lips. Sora couldn't believe what had just happened and was hoping that the flour was covering up most of his blush.

Neither Sora nor Riku mentioned anything about the kiss. And the brunet found himself wondering if Riku had actually done it. But the flour on his lips was evidence, and every time he thought about it, he could feel the heat in his cheeks. The last three steps ended in silence. With Sora still dazed and putting the pan in the oven. _Maybe it was an accident_ Sora told himself,_ yeah maybe he didn't mean to_. As far as he knew Riku was straight. _Pppft about as straight as Lance Bass, _a voice in is head scoffed. _You leave Lance out of this!_ No from what he had heard he was probably gotten countless girls pregnant by now.

"Sora!" The brunet looked to Riku who had shaken him out of his thoughts. They had been sitting on the couch watching some design show for quite a while. But Sora had been busy daydreaming and had forgotten what was going on.

"Uhh?" Sora grunted at him. His eyes on a now standing Riku, the apron around his neck that had been untied now sat on his waist. _Of course, is he was gay…_

"The cake!" Riku shouted pointing to a thin layer of smoke now billowing from the kitchen.

"Holy crap!" Sora shrieked jumping off the couch, and nearly knocking the lamp over in the process. Riku stayed close behind him, as Sora shoved his hands into the pink oven mitts. Riku yanked open the oven, and Sora coughed as more smoke flowed from the oven. Sora thrust his hands into the oven and pulled the cake out, practically throwing it onto the stove. He clipped off the stove quickly, and stood beside Riku glaring at the cake.

"Well… it's not…_burnt_ per say," Riku shrugged hesitantly, looking to Sora who had a 'deer in the headlights look'.

"It's ruined Riku!" Sora cried throwing himself dejectedly into a kitchen chair.

"No, no it's not Sora," the silver haired boy sighed ruffling the brunet's hair.

"Yes it is!" Sora complained, " it was _smoking_ and it probably tastes like…like _broccoli_ or something." He was able to hear the other boy chuckle and try to pass it off as a cough when Sora glared at him.

"That's impossible," he said grabbing Sora's wrist and dragging him back to the stove. The cake didn't_ look_ ruined. The edges were just a little dark. But other than that it wasn't bad. "Look Sora, it's fine."

"Says you," The brunet grumbled. Riku frowned and rolled his eyes. Sora was over-reacting and was stuck on the fact that their cake was terrible.

"Y'know," he sighed, resigning himself to Sora's opinion. " I bet if we covered it up with icing it'll look like nothing happened."

"You think that'll work" Sora asked raising his eyebrows.

"Of course," Riku assured him with a smile. "There was barely anything to fix anyway". Sora's mood brightened significantly, as he grabbed the vanilla icing. Sora passed Riku a spreader as he attacked the cake by himself, his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth. Riku could almost hear him cackling over the baked good.

"Sora you're not making a tower of icing y'know," Riku interjected laughing. With Sora's desperation to cover anything black with white, and Riku's apparent experience with a spatula, they had managed to cover the cake quite nicely.

"There it looks fine now right?" Riku asked Sora as he put a hand on his shoulder. Sora blushed, as he felt the weight of Riku's hand on himself, he didn't mind so much. It was sort of comforting. The brunet tried not to think about how close they were, instead focusing on their baked masterpiece. The last time they were this close, Sora ended up thoroughly confused. Sora's breath caught in his throat as Riku leaned closer to him. _Oh no!_ He felt his heart beating faster. Sora closed his eyes, and then he heard Riku's low rich laugh and felt him pull away. Sora opened his eyes just in time to see Riku smirking and raise his eyebrows evilly. Sora cursed himself. _What the hell was he just doing?_ Riku continued to ice the cake; he had only leaned over Sora to put a few finishing touches on it.

"Did Hannah say what she wanted on it?"

"Well I'd like it to say happy birthday Mrs. Mastersons," Sora's Mom said happily. Skirting into the kitchen and moving Riku and Sora aside. "Oh just wonderful boys! Thank you so much."

"It was our pleasure Hannah," the silver haired boy said politely. Sora looked to his brother for some sort of help, only to see him and Axel holding in a laugh.

"Hey Rox," Sora said, making his way to his brother and grabbing him by his wrist. "Can I talk to you for a second?" Dragging him upstairs and practically throwing the blond into Sora's room, "How long were you two standing there?"

"Long enough," Roxas snorted, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes at his brother. ""I thought you didn't _like_ Riku?"

"I don't!" Sora said immediately.

"Yeah, exactly the reason you two were kissing in the kitchen," Roxas rolled his eyes.

"No! We weren't kissing then," Sora dramatically shook his brother, as if that would help him convince him.

"_Then?_ You man you _were_ kissing?"

"What!? No, maybe…I mean I think he kissed me. But I- I'm not quite sure."

"What do you mean you're not sure?" Roxas asked and sat himself on Sora's bed.

"We'll we were mixing the ingredients. Well _I _was mixing the ingredients and I forgot the eggs. So I treid to crack three eggs, and I broke two. And Riku said something smart-ass and grabbed the last egg _right from me_ and –and."

"Come on Sora spit it out," Roxas laughed.

"Well he leaned in _real_ close and then I felt his lips on my cheek." Sora groaned plopping himself beside his brother. " It was, _so gross_." Roxas only clapped him on the back and smiled.

"Well Sor," he said, " I guess you'll have to buy some George Michael albums." Sora gaped at his now laughing brother. _He's not helping at all!_ Roxas saw his brothers crestfallen face, and moved overt putting his arm around his shoulder. "Relax I mean, we came in and it looked like you two were having fun right?" Sora thought for a moment, even when they were studying, Sora wasn't feeling any sever hatred towards Riku. In fact the more Sora thought about it, the less angry he was at his brother. He was getting along fine with Riku, but that's all _getting along._ Sora sighed.

" Yeah alright you win. How was delivering cookies?" he said changing the subject to something less embarrassing.

"It was alright," Roxas shrugged. " Axel kept asking me to get him ice cream so now I_ have _to."

"Why didn't you just say no?" Sora asked, His brother was no pushover. He heard his brother mumble something about a cookie-throwing contest. Sora didn't ask any further. His brother was a saver, and having to spend money on anyone other than himself or family obviously rubbed him the wrong way.

"_You_ try saying no to Axel." Roxas huffed, rolling his blue eyes. "His hands are like lightning. You should have seen him with those peanut butter ones!"

"Sora, Roxas!" the two quieted down at the sound of their mother's voice. "Hurry up you two we're leaving!" Sora followed Roxas downstairs.

"Where are we going this time?" Roxas asked exasperated, as they entered the kitchen. Hannah was at the counter concentrating solely on writing with red icing on the cake. She didn't even seem to notice Axel practically on top of Riku on the counter beside her. Okay, so maybe Sora was over-reacting again. Axel was _not on top_ of Riku. He was, however, leaning against him their bodies squashed together, his head on the others shoulders. The two watched Hannah finish the cake. Riku's arms crossed, Axel's hands fumbling in his forest green jacket. Axel yawned and looked up at Riku, saying something that made the silver haired boy chuckle.

"Mom," Roxas tried to get her attention while Sora gaped at the couple.

"Hmm? What dear," she mused as she licked her finger putting the red gel down.

"I asked where we were going this time," he repeated.

"Sunset heights," she drawled. Sora was still glaring at Riku while he mouthed something that looked like jealous and raised an eyebrow. Sora's glare only pointed and mocked him with a face of disgust.

"But we were _just _there," Roxas complained, completely unaware of the contest going to between his brother and Riku.

"Oh relax," she said as she opened a cupboard. "This is a special trip. It's Mrs. Masterson's birthday." She closed the cupboard and opened a drawer. " Oh where did I put those presents?"

"Who's Mrs. Mastersons?" Sora asked, pulling himself away from Riku's stare.

"Oh just a lady I'm close with at the home. You'll like her. Now put that cake in a box please. I have to find thos- oh! Here they are." Hannah pulled out a large polka-dotted gift bag. Sora did what he was asked and lifted the cake into a cardboard box with a cellophane top. " Okay boys into the car." She shooed them out of the kitchen, one hand taking the cake from Sora, while the other held the gift bag. Roxas waited for his mother to leave the house before closing the door and locking it behind them.

"Shotgun!" Sora yelled, there was no way he was going to be caught between Axel and Riku in the back seat.

"Um, Sora you can't Hun, there's a bunch of boxes and binders from work in the passengers seat. Plus the cake and stuff." Hannah informed him. Sora gaped.

"Wait all four of up aren't going to fit in the back!" he complained. Hannah waved her hand dismissively.

"You'll just be a little squished is all." Their mother placed the pastry and presents on the front seat. The twins looked at each other and grimaced.

"Can't I sit, under all the stuff?" Sora pleaded.

"No way," Hannah shook her head, " I'm not trusting you with a cake in your lap." Hannah frowned and slipped into the drivers seat. "Now get in or we'll end up late." Sora's face fell. There was no way he was going to win this one. Riku shrugged and filed inside, taking the window seat behind Hannah. Axel shoved Sora in after him, and Roxas followed suit before Axel could lay a hand on him.

"Ow Sora! You weigh a _ton,_" Riku complained as Sora's leg was pushed so much it was on top of him.

"Do not!" he defended himself, sticking out his tongue.

"Axel! Get your—mmpff," Roxas tried, but found scolding him nearly impossible as the toqued boy attempted to do up his seatbelt. Roxas ended up with a mouthful of elbow.

"Stop your whining Roxas," he grunted, as he gave up on safety.

"You boys ready?" Hannah asked politely. She pulled out of the driveway regardless. Setting off across town.

"Yea- hey!" Sora replied as he saw Axel lean over all three of them to check under the seat. "What the?"

"Watch your mouth Sora," Axel frowned " I left my bag here, just making sure sasquatch here didn't smush it."

"Your taller than me Ax," Riku said glaring at the red-head.

"Yeah, but your made of more muscle," he countered and looked up at Riku with a suggestive grin. Riku didn't have a reply this time.

"Axel will you hurry up. Please. Any longer and you'll push me into sitting on- oh.. oh great. Too late." Sora had had a vague idea that something like that was going to happen. He just hoped it would be Roxas. Sora batted at Axel's head as his lower back came into contact with the door. The redhead returned to his seat just as Sora was trying to squeeze tighter beside Roxas and Riku.

"No, wait Sora." Roxas stopped him from moving.

"What is there something on me is it a spider? If it is then squash it. Wait don't I don't want it to-"

"Sor there's nothing on you. Just stay there I have more room this way."

"What? No way Rox," as Sora shouted, Hannah made a hairpin turn, sending the brunet into the door again. He groaned impatiently and struggled to sit up again, refusing to look at Riku who was most likely smirking. He kicked and tried to get off of Riku's lap.

"Sora c'mon!" Roxas begged, pressing his hands on his bothers chest and locking his elbows. Sora growled and pushed harder, but Roxas had the upper hand in his position.

"But I'm bothering Riku!" Sora attempted.

"You know what? I don't think he minds," Axel commented, but neither Sora nor Roxas heard. Riku scowled and reached behind the struggling twins to tear off Axel's hat.

"Hey!" Axel yelled as his hair shot up like a light. "You give that back Riku!" he growled over the shouts and grunts of the brothers.

"Roxas you suc-" but Roxas cut him off.

"Yeah you fight like a girl!"

"Do not!"

"Well if you put some-" Axel started, but paused to hiss at his best friend. " Make-up on him he'd look the part. What do you think Riku?" He sneered.

"Don't you _dare_ answer him you pig!" Sora scolded, leaning into the seat to crush Riku's chest with the shoulder.

"Oof!" the silver haired boy gasped. "Sora stop!"

"As long as you get you- AHHH!" the brunet finished with a scream. The car made a drastic stop. Sora crashed into the back of Hannah's seat, Riku up against him. Axel was halfway into the passenger's seat, while Roxas could barely be seen.

" IF YOU FOUR DO NOT SETTLE YOUESELVES DOWN, SO HELP ME I WILL TURN THIS CAR AROUND AND THERE WILL BE NO TREATS FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK." Hannah's threat was not bottomless. She _would_ cut them off from cookies and the like. She would even cut Riku and Axel, who weren't even her kids. They all quieted down and Sora relaxed reluctantly into Riku's lap, still glaring at his brother. Even though he had to sit on Riku, he still made Roxas frown, by placing his feet in between Roxas's and Riku's thighs.

"Sorry Hannah," Riku apologized first.

"Yeah sorry Mom" spoke Axel, the twins followed mumbling, but Hannah knew what they meant.

" Now are you ready? Are you done fighting?"

"Not quite," Axel stalled, punching Riku in his shoulder, hard enough to make him wince. He snatched his hat back and pulled it over his head. "Okay, _now_ were ready."

"Good," Hannah said her short curls bouncing as she pulled back onto the road.

"Out of curiosity" Riku drawled with a devilish smirk. "What made you scream like a little girl?"

"I did not sound like a girl" Sora defended trying to buy himself time to think of a proper excuse, the truth was just _too embarrassing_. "Umm it was, err…Axel's hair!"

"Axel's hair?" Roxas asked.

"My hair" the redhead agreed.

"Yeah well," Sora shifted uncomfortably. " It just came out of nowhere. It looked like a moomba from that kiddie show."

"Well I am insulted," Axel joked with a face of mock disgust.

"I'm sorry Ax that's not what a meant."

"I'm just _joking_ Sora geeze. You're like a little jitterbug. Don't worry about it, it happens all the time." Axel laughed, but it was hollow, and his eyes now seemed a little distant. Axel looked to Riku and he read his expression. He really didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"Oh hey, Roxas, how was the game last night?" Riku expertly changed the subject. Roxas might have been the only one who noticed.

"It was awesome, we won. And I gave Lexeaus a bloody nose," Roxas informed them.

"You beat the Cerberus?" Axel said with genuine shock.

"Yeah it was a real tough game though. Hayner almost had his head taken off. How did you know we were playing Oblivion High anyway?" The blonde shifted uncomfortably.

"Well I know Lex, and Pete, and Seifer, and-"

"Everyone?" Sora interrupted. Axel pondered this for a moment and nodded his head.

"Yeah basically."

"How? Oblivion High is on the island across from us. They had to get a ferry here." Roxas asked.

"Used to live there a long time ago," Axel stated.

"Why'd you move to the outer islands?" Sora asked.

"Well uhm – I sorta-" Axel started, but was rudely cut off by Sora.

"WHO'S HAND IS ON MY LEG?" Sora bellowed, angrily with a blush on his face.

"Woops," Axel giggled. "Thought that was Roxas."

"_Now_ that's my leg…" Roxas said, with audible forced calmness, but his face was flushed with what seemed like anger.

"Good," Axel grinned, but didn't bother to remove his hand. Instead of making a fuss, Roxas settled for crossing his arms on his chest and pouting. Sora, his legs now free off any appendages was sitting on Riku comfortably. The silver haired boy was chatting with his mother from behind Sora – something about Alberta again.

"It's pretty empty up where I visit. Most of the time I never go into the big cities," Sora was interested in why Riku was going to Canada in the first place. He was about to ask when he was interrupted once again by his chatty mother.

"Oooo Canadaaa," she sang. "I have such good memories of that place." Sora was surprised; he had no idea his mother had ever traveled – let alone out of the country. Roxas spoke first.

"You've been to Canada?" Roxas said, unfolding his arms. Sora looked to his twin, who also had a confused look on his face. Sora noticed Axel had removed the hand, and was now staring dreamily out of the window.

"Of course, it's where I met your father." Sora could feel his brother tense the same time he did. This had to be the first time Hannah had mention their father in over five years. It was a touchy subject so neither Sora nor Roxas ever pushed it. They never had a reason to, they knew their dad had left when Hannah was pregnant and she'd never heard from him since. Sora never really thought about it – his mother had always been more than what Roxas and he had ever needed.

"Sunset heights!" Hannah said cheerily, thankfully interrupting the awkward moment. Sora was relieved to see the brick building come into view. Axel was the first out of the car, and Sora was practically shoved off Riku's lap onto the ground.

Sora looked at Roxas, confused. "What's he so perturbed about?"

"You shouldn't have said that about Axel's hair, it wasn't nice," Roxas reprimanded. Sora blushed, that wasn't _really_ the reason. Sora looked around to find Riku talking to Axel in a hushed whisper at the trunk of the car.

Sora assumed it would be safe. "That's not the reason I screamed Roxas," he whispered. Roxas still didn't look convinced. Sora looked around nervously – Riku had a bad habit of sneaking up on him. "Riku he…sort of…wel.._groped me_," Sora finished, his face now beet red.

"Pffft – oh god," Roxas laughed, almost in hysterics. "He _didn't_…did he?" Sora blushed more – if that was even possible.

"..yeah.."

"Ah man Sora," Axel said, coming up from behind Sora, in between laughs. "I'm sorry – ha, I mean – I know why," apparently Axel was unable to finish his sentence and brushed past Sora – grabbing a box from the front passenger seat, still laughing. "Come on Rox," he said, his mood now improved. "You can met my gramma,"

"I volunteer here all the time Axel – I'm sure I've met her already. Which room is she in?"

Axel lifted the white box with a smile. "The one this cake is going to of course."

To everyone's surprise, well maybe not Hannah's, Axel was telling the truth. Not only was Rose Masterons one of the nicest people in the home she was also one of the chattiest. Her mouth ran like a motorboat.

"Happy Birthday!" They chided, Hannah pushing the door to her room open with her shoulder.

"Birthday? Who's birthday?" Rose put on her glasses, which were out of date. But she was blind as a bat without them.

"It's your birthday," Axel informed her dully.

"Oh how nice. How old am I?" She asked. Riku and Sora felt completely out of place. Was Axel's gramma _actually_ crazy, or was she just _acting_ that way?

"Eighty-six!" Hannah said happily, giving Riku the cake. The silver haired boy wobbled slightly – he already had enough boxes. Which on did Roxas give him anyway the one full of _sinks?_

"Come on now Rose, let's go to the sitting room," Hannah took her gently by the arm, ushering her out of the room. The four followed behind her, Riku paused to reshuffle the boxes in his arms.

Sunset Heights was a nice retirement home. The staff were nice and the accommodations were perfect. It was very scenic, with lots of bay windows on the first floor. Rose lowered herself in a rocking chair, Axel and Sora sitting in a loveseat across from her. Riku grunted as he tried to put the gifts on the table carefully, then found a spot in between Roxas and Hannah.

"Oh, don't forget mine," Axel said, pulling out a neatly wrapped package from his tote bag. He threw it gently onto an empty spot on the coffee table.

"This is wonderful Hannah, thank you so much," Rose patted her on the hand. Sora found it weird how she didn't acknowledge her own grandson. "Are these your sons you've told me so much about?"

"Well, you've probably seen Roxas helping around here," Hannah motioned to the blond sitting on the end of the couch.

"Oh yes, you gave me my pills the other week," Rose seemed to forget that Roxas was only able to volunteer with the food, but he smiled at her regardless.

"And that one over there is Sora," the brunette grinned and held up a hand." And the silver haired one is his friend, Riku,"

"Mm, yes," Rose sighed. "Hannah, didn't you say you were going to being my grandson?"

"Oh Rose, he's right th-"

"Axel couldn't make it," the red head spoke. "He said he had an important assignment to do. He sends his best wished though," _What's with Axel_? Roxas thought, and looked to the red head. He smiled lightly, sitting on the edge of the seat with his elbows on his knees. Although Axel was smiling, his eyes reflected something of what looked like hurt.

"Oh that' to bad. Tell him I love him very much," Rose said with a sigh.

"I will mom," Axel answered and Roxas and Sora were thrust into a pit of confusions.

"How is work anyway, Rick?" Rose asked. Who was Rick? And why was Axel calling his Grandma, Mom?

"It's going good – just closed a deal with another big corporation," Axel lied. He did not close deals with big corporations.

"That's great, I'm so proud of you," Rose complimented and pulled Axel's gift close to her. "Do you mind if I?" Hannah nodded eagerly. "To Rose, from Rick," she read out loud. Roxas looked to Axel, but he was purposely avoiding him. They watched as Rose happily opened her gifts, placing the garbage in one pile while the other was filled with knick knacks. A harlequin romance novel, salt and pepper shakers in the form of roosters (She collects them apparently) and one of those _–QRay_ bracelets were all from Hannah. But of course, she had written _Hannah and the boys_ on the card. Axel, or Rick, had purchased a jewelry box. It was plain with but with an intricate pink rose painted on the lid, also 'rose' was elegantly crafted in gold paint. Axel smiled as Rose opened it up, the music of the Nutcracker drifting softly from the tiny box. A smile appeared on her face. The smile wavered for a split second, before she started to cry. Her strawberry blonde curls stayed stiff even as she shook her head. But they were tears of joy.

"Oh Rick," she sniffed. "You remembered."

"'Course Mom," Axel said, smiling again, but Roxas knew he was holding back. "How could I ever forget?" There wasn't much to say about that. Axel and Rose talked for a bit, of course he ended up referring to himself in third person again. Hannah cleaned up the mess of wrapping paper as cake was handed out by a cheerful Sora. Roxas spent the rest of the time in silence, trying to figure out what was wrong with Mrs. Mastersons. He had seen her a couple of times around the Sunset Heights, he also knew that she forgot about a couple of things every now and then. But she didn't even recognize her own grandson? _What happened?_

The next thing her knew, they were walking back to Hannah's car.

"Roxas! I said get in the car!" Hannah called.

"Oh? Well, actually I'm taking Axel for ice cream," Roxas said. Although he didn't really want to spend money on the red head, he didn't want to have to be stuck I the car with him again. Plus, he might be able to find out why Axel was acting weird?

"What? You're _really_ going to take me?" Axel sounded happy as he slung a lanky arm around Roxas shoulder.

"Well, alright. But don't be out too late, and call me if anything happens." Hannah waved as she got into the drivers seat.

"We will!" he said, watching his brother tale shotgun, which left Riku alone in the backset.

"One sea-salt ice cream," Roxas ordered politely, to the girl across the counter. Roxas recognized her from the cheerleading team; she was also one of Sora's friends.

"Make that two," Axel said from behind the blonde.

"Coming right up boys," she chirped happily, and set off to retrieve the ice cream.

"I thought I was the only one who liked sea-salt." Roxas furrowed his brows.

"Then you thought wrong blondie."

"Blondie? That's a new one." Roxas subconsciously ran a hand through his hair.

"Here you are," Selphie said cheerily, handing them the ice cream.

"Thanks," Roxas smiled and handed her the correct change. Axel took his soft blue treat almost immediately, with a child like grin, licking at the sides to keep it from melting. The duo walked out of the Pixie Parlor, the ringing of the bell indicating that they had left. The ice cream shop was usually busy on Saturdays, and since the booths were all occupied they decided to walk around while they ate their treat.

Pixie Parlor was right along the boardwalk, the window in the front giving the perfect view of the inner islands. Of course the only thing you could make out from where they were was the Ars Arcanum building, a famous recording studio. It's where Yuna had got her start, and now the songstress was a big star. The sun was setting nicely against the skyline.

Neither of them really knew where they were going, they were just sort of walking. Roxas was busy trying to figure out what was up with Axel. He narrowed his eyebrows, a little uneasy about how to approach him on the subject.

"Just ask me," Axel mused, as if reading his mind. Roxas, surprised, looked up at the other, frowning slightly.

"What?" Roxas asked innocently.

"Just ask me, you obviously have something on your mind, right? So spit it out," Axel's green eyes refused to meet his own. The blond sighed and stared at his feet.

"Well, first off _Rick_," he huffed. Where was this sudden anger coming from? "I'd like to know about your _big corporation deals_. Then maybe about your _mother_. Oh yeah, then I'd appreciate it if you told me why you were lying to your Gramma back there!" He didn't mean to sound so angry; it just sort of went out that way.

"Oh," Axel blinked, frowning. "I thought it was going to be something simple, like my favorite colour or something…"

"Who's Rick, Axel?" Roxas asked flatly, the edges of his ice cream cone melting. Their feet shuffling against the boardwalk, slowly turned into scrapping on pavement as they found another street.

"…My dad," Axel hesitated before answering. "He died."

"Oh," Roxas managed ,as a wave of guilt washed over him, he had the feeling that he shouldn't be asking these sort of questions. "S-sorry,"

"Don't apologize. I wouldn't have told you if I didn't want you to know. Besides, only my mom, Riku and myself know what really happened. Everyone just assumes my dad is some sort of drug dealer,"

"What! Why?" Roxas pushed, and then backed down quickly. "Oh, sorry. You can just ignore that if you want you."

"There's no harm in telling you right? Besides, you're a nice kid, I can trust you won't tell anyone," Axel finally looked at him, grinning. "Where to start…where to start. Oh I know! My mom and dad."

"My dad was twenty seven when he met my mom, at some big corporate meeting. I don't remember much of what my mom told me, but I think it was her dad that dragged her along. Anyway, Alicia was seventeen, they hit it off had me-"

"That's it?" Roxas asked, finally biting into the cone.

"Hold on…hold on. Dammti! Where was I?"

"You were born,"

"Right. The fabulous miracle that was I was born. And up until when I was about thirteen, everything was great," Axel waved his hands in the air dramatically. "Than my dad found out he had terminal cancer of the lung, or cervix, can't remember."

"Well, we can rule out cervix," Roxas assured.

"Wait, why?" Axel asked, genuinely confused.

"That's a lady part Axel," Roxas sighed. "Didn't you learn anything in anatomy?"

"Slept through it," Axel waved the topic of lady parts off. "Bottom line, my dad died,"

"Lung cancer?"

"…yes," Axel thought for a minute. It was tough for him when he was thirteen; finding out his dad had cancer. "Then my mom tried to take over, but she couldn't find a decent job, pay for food or rent. And eventu-"

"Hold on a minute, rewind. Wasn't your mom a daughter of a wealthy business man, couldn't she just borrow money?" Roxas asked.

"Oh, right. Well, gramps sort of disowned her," Axel laughed, Roxas nearly chocking on his last bit of cone. Axel patted him on the back.

"Why? That's terrible!"

"Well, Alicia married Rick," Axel said, as if pointing out the obvious.

"Wouldn't that be a good thing? I mean business partners and all?"

"Well, not really. Paupu Inc and Maleficent corporate were rivals – and they were _going_ to discuss a merge in a later meeting. But when they got married, it closed the deal and gramps was _furious_…"

"That's just _mean_. How could he disown his own daughter?" Roxas mouth hung open in shock.

"Relax, it was so bad. Anyway, someone called child services on my mom because they thought she couldn't provide for me," Axel frowned at this. _He must really have loved his mom_ Roxas thought. "But before they could send me to some foster home, I ran away to the outer islands."

"You call _that_ not so bad? What did you do? Live on the streets? Go to your Grammas?"

"Uhm, nope lived with a friend for a bit. Then got a job and my own apartment,"

What happened to your mom? And your Gramma?" Roxas was cautious with his words, he didn't want to offend Axel.

"Haven't heard from my mom in almost five years, and my Gramma refuses to accept that her son is dead. Ergo, the reason she called me Rick. I've tried telling her that I'm Axel, but she freaks out on me." The red head hardly flinched as he spilled his life story. But Roxas could see his green eyes welling up.

"I'm sorry Ax," Roxas said in a low whisper as the streetlights went on.

"For what?" Axel sniffed, Roxas stopped in his tracks.

"I don't know, I just am," Axel had to backtrack a few steps. He was busy trying to keep his emotions in check, and didn't notice the blond stop. Roxas stared up at his friend; he must not have though about his family in a long while. "It must hurt," Roxas grumbled.

"Who hurts?" Axel raised an eyebrow.

"Having to pretend to be your father, while your Gramma probably thinks you avoid her. Not knowing where or what your mother is doing, or even if she's alive. It's gotta hurt," Roxas said, with a sense of urgency.

"Well, sometimes. I mean my..m.mom _has_ to be alive. They would have told me if she ha-mmph!" Halfway through however, he couldn't hold it any longer and a tear rolled down his cheek.

This had been the breaking point for Roxas, the blond didn't know what he was doing, but he soon had Axel's cheeks in his hands and his lips on his own. Axel was stunned as much as Roxas was. Finally the blond came to his senses, as his blue eyes shot open. He broke the kiss and Axel straightened himself up, Roxas lowering himself from his toes.

"You taste like sea salt ice cream," Axel said with a grin. Roxas _wanted_ to say 'you do too.' But couldn't manage.

"Shut up…"

* * *

**Rocket Girls:** Can you belive how long that was? It was very fun to write. We hope you enjoyed it cause we were so mean to leave you for so long. I was like oh maaan I can't wait till they read the ice cream scene!Lady A doesn't want to offend and George Michael fans, in fact we both like him, but we can only pick on Lance Bass so much..Also the ringtone on Riku's phone is part of this chapter name. It's so easy. But Lady A says when she sings it she thinks of Riku. Crazy. 

**Lady A**: Ooo ooh! I got a question.!

**Rocket:** -sigh- What?

**Lady A:** What everyone doing for halloween? Dressing up. Trick or treating? Oooh and is anyone going to AC3? If you are awesome, support conventions!Sorry I like to know what kind of readers we have.

**Rocket:** Yeah and now you scared them away. Thanks. Anyway if you havent left by now. Please read and please review! We love to hear from you. Drop us and e-mail we're cool like that. But keep in mind we have dial up and we may not reply for a few days... Hooray!


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